Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research

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OVERALL ABSTRACT The Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (MCUAAAR), a center comprised of the three Research 1 universities in Michigan, proposes to expand its reach and impact by mentoring junior faculty (most of whom are African American) and by focusing on the unique aspects of stress and coping in older African Americans using a life course lens. Our four specific aims include (1) Increase reach through the maturation of our three-university structure and our growing relationships with five HBCUs; (2) Recruit and mentor 15 new junior researchers whose research will focus on health disparities and unique life course experiences of stress and coping in African American older adults; (3) Enhance our established nationally recognized model for successfully engaging with urban African American communities; and (4) Continue to build the next generation of leaders for MCUAAAR. Three cores (LAC, AnC and CLRC) and the Research Education Component (REC) are proposed in this application. We will employ an integrative approach to mentoring, entailing a structured set of activities and training across the pilot funding period:(a) Formal goals will be set at the beginning of the pilot and reviewed in monthly MCUAAAR meetings; (b) Based on the goals set, a mentoring team will be assembled to assist with research, dissemination of findings, and research translation;(c) A set of training activities in scientific writing, measurement, and community-based research partnerships will be conducted each year; (d) A formal six and twelve-month evaluation will be conducted and shared with the MCUAAAR faculty. We continue to be motivated by the dearth of NIH studies in health disparities and by the continued low representation of African Americans funded through R01 grants. The RCMAR program has been important in helping to eliminate this gap for RCMAR researchers overall.