Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research - Leadership and Administrative Core (LAC)

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LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATIVE CORE (LAC) ABSTRACT The Leadership and Administrative Core (LAC) provides coherent administrative leadership and organizational oversight of the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (MCUAAAR). The extraordinary stability of MCUAAAR leadership and Center productivity is directly related to the skills of MCUAAAR’s long-time Principal Investigator Dr. James Jackson who was the PI of the Center from its inception in 1997 until his death in 2020. Dr. Jackson created a succession plan for the 2018-2023 period that integrated Dr. Robert Joseph Taylor into the administrative core and led to him becoming the PI in 2020. In this proposal Dr. Taylor and long-time co-director Dr. Peter Lichtenberg become MPIs for the MCUAAAR. The three main goals of the MCUAAAR from 2023-2028 include: (1) Utilizing our three- university partnership to achieve exceptional productivity and collaborations with key NIA and other funded Centers; (2) Continue the long-term focus on Diversity Equity Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) among core faculty of MCUAAAR and building the next generation of MCUAAAR leaders, as well as insuring accessibility for our scientists and community members attending our events and; (3) Continue the integration of Michigan State University into the MCUAAAR with special attention paid to the maturation of the community core efforts in Flint. The LAC specific aims are to (1) Provide the leadership, structure, and proven methods and technologies necessary to ensure the optimal performance and integration of core functions and participants, (2) Coordinate short- and long-term mentoring, retention efforts, and follow-up for 15 ethnic minority junior faculty whose research focus is on the unique aspects of stress and coping among older African Americans using a life course approach, and (3) Enhance our established nationally recognized model for successfully engaging with African American communities. The LAC will oversee the extraordinary partnerships the MCUAAAR has with NIA Centers (MCCFAD, an AD-RCMAR, MADRC, an Alzheimer’s Center, NACDA and the Pepper Center) as well as other NIH Centers/Projects (e.g. HRS, CURES). The LAC’s Dr. Robert Joseph Taylor has a strong history with research leaders at five HBCUs who are proposed to become partners with the MCUAAAR. The LAC’s structure ensures the integration of all its cores with the REC and with each other as well as ensures regular executive committee meetings, evaluations of all programmatic aspects and a process of recruitment and selection of pilot scientists. The proposed activities of the LAC and the MCUAAAR as a whole will allow for even more significant advances in research, faculty development and community member engagement in the research process.