Administrative Core

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The Research Center for Child Well-Being at the University of South Carolina focuses on prevention and risk reduction in two areas of critical well-being for children ages 2-10: (1) mental, emotional, and behavioral problems; and, (2) obesogenic behaviors. Effective prevention in both areas is a public health necessity that depends on a strong scientific workforce to move the field forward. Accordingly, the Center is building capacity by facilitating the development of promising early-stage investigators who can conduct and extend preventive intervention research in both critical areas. The Administrative Core facility leads, implements, and fosters the main activities and research necessary for success of the Center. The overarching goal is to create and cultivate a high-impact center committed to the development of scientists concentrating on the prevention and reduction of mental, emotional, behavioral, and unhealthy-lifestyle problems, which will be met through four specific aims. Aim1 is to enact the leadership, administration, and infrastructure essential for Center operations to achieve its mission, building on strong institutional support that includes targeted hiring of several new faculty, and drawing on the engagement of a local Community Advisory Board. Aim2 is to implement and supervise a faculty development plan designed to accelerate the trajectories of promising early-stage investigators toward independence and to foster additional investigators via pilot seed projects and a second wave of research projects. Aim3 is to coordinate and promote connections between Center members and the Center’s core research facilities—the Clinical Trials Logistics Core and the Statistical and Data Management Core, and ensure that the Center’s early-stage investigators receive top priority for support from the Cores. Aim4 is to implement planned Center activities and procedures designed to promote a cohesive and collaborative research environment, to relate the Center to other pertinent campus resources and colleagues, and to advance the Center on a national level. The Administrative Core builds on the University of South Carolina’s expertise and leadership in the areas of child mental health, childhood obesity, and preventive intervention research aimed at improving child well-being in both domains. Preventive intervention trials done well place major demands on the resources and skills of even the most seasoned scientists, but the challenges are even more formidable for early career scientists who have access to less infrastructure and more constrained funding levels. Consequently, the Administrative Core and associated research facility cores are designed to optimize support for the early-stage prevention scientists leading to independent researcher status and major contributions to child well-being.