University of Florida Resource Center for Minority Aging Research

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PROJECT SUMMARY Chronic pain conditions represent arguably the most prevalent and costly public health problem in the United States, and they are the leading cause of disability worldwide. While pain affects individuals throughout the lifespan, older adults are disproportionately impacted and are at particularly increased risk for chronic pain and pain-related disability. Surprisingly, knowledge regarding the biopsychosocial mechanisms underlying age- related increases in pain remains quite limited, therefore, increased research is needed to elucidate social and behavioral contributions to pain and disability among older adults. A critical barrier to progress in this area of research is the limited availability of investigators with appropriate interdisciplinary training in addressing later life pain and disability. With strong institutional support, the University of Florida (UF) Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) will be established to address these scientific and workforce development needs. The UF RCMAR has an educational objective to provide outstanding training and career development opportunities to promising investigators from underrepresented backgrounds. The UF RCMAR's research objective is to conduct innovative and impactful transdisciplinary social and behavioral research addressing pain and disability among older adults, including health disparities in later life pain and disability (e.g. racial and ethnic differences, sex and gender differences, and socioeconomic influences). The UF RCMAR will accomplish these objectives through the synergistic efforts of four Cores: an Administrative Core (AC), a Research Education Component (REC), an Analysis Core (AnC), and a Community Liaison and Recruitment Core (CLRC). In addition, the UF RCMAR will benefit from extensive collaborations with other UF entities, including The UF Pain Research & Intervention Center of Excellence (PRICE), the UF Institute on Aging (IOA), and the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI). The UF RCMAR boasts an outstanding interdisciplinary group of Core Faculty with expertise spanning the spectrum of clinical and translational research related to our theme of biopsychosocial contributions to pain and disability among older adults. In order to accomplish its objectives, the UF RCMAR will recruit and retain outstanding early stage investigators from unrepresented backgrounds and provide them with excellent mentoring and career development support. Through its research activities, the UF RCMAR will produce novel and important information regarding social and behavioral contributors to pain and disability in older adults, and will develop and test innovative interventions to reduce later life pain and disability.