Administrative Core

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Project Summary – Administrative Core The Administrative Core will provide the leadership to ensure that this Center continually stimulates new, significant and innovative research while providing new "cutting edge technical methodologies" to enhance the goals of drug abuse research projects funded to investigators at this and collaborating institutions. The Center Director will assume responsibility for all aspects of this center, but will be provided frequent input from the internal advisory committee, a group of highly accomplished NIDA-funded drug abuse scientists who have worked cooperatively together for years, and from the external advisory committee, a group of well-known drug abuse researchers in other institutions across the country. In addition the individual Core Leads and Co- Investigators will serve in an advisory capacity with the major goal being to stimulate new innovative research available through collaboration among the cores. The Administrative Core will rely heavily on interaction and communication among all scholars and advisors as they have successfully done for years. There has been a long history of collaboration among the drug abuse researchers at this and collaborating institutions and this experience will provide the essence for the leadership of this center, as reflected in the progress report of this renewal proposal. The Administrative Core's personnel will continue to assume the lead in scheduling and organizing annual research retreats and monthly research discussion groups that include Center leaders, faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students. The administrative support for this center will be provided by the staff of the chair's and finance offices of the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology at VCU. Staff members have decades of experience carrying out these functions for federally funded research grants and centers, training grants, contracts, fellowships, etc., all while handling the administration of all other aspects of a large and very productive academic department. They have provided this support exceptionally well during the first funding cycle of this center. Commitments are in place from the Deans of the Schools of Medicine and Pharmacy, as well as from the Vice President for Research and Innovation, to continue to provide financial and other support for the pilot projects core of this center (please see letters included in the Pilot Projects program core).