1. Core Mission The goal of the Developmental Core is to stimulate new investigator-initiated research breakthroughs in HIV/AIDS through the support of CFAR faculty utilizing three major mechanisms;direct financial support to allow recruitment of talented faculty in targeted areas who complement and enhance the CFAR HIV research agenda (Faculty Development);research support through the peer-reviewed Small Grants and Emerging Opportunities Awards;and the fostering of young investigators through a structured training and mentoring program, the Mentored Clinical Research Scientist Program (MCRSP). The MCRSP was initiated in the current cycle of funding, and it will be continued and expanded in the next funding cycle to reach a larger pool of junior trainees engaged in HIV-related research. Ultimately a more formal program in mentoring across the Cores will be developed. Much has been accomplished over the past four years due to the impact of the CFAR Developmental Core in support of HIV/AIDS research. The effectiveness of the Developmental Core is due, in part, to the fact that nearly all HIV-related research at Duke is coordinated and led by the Duke CFAR faculty, resulting in a cohesive research community that is accustomed to working together across academic departmental boundaries to form multidisciplinary and interdepartmental teams. Illustrative of this collaborative environment are the numerous publications co-authored by members of different departments (See Table I and References 1-28 for a listing of key CFAR personnel who are either first or senior authors, and their collaborators, on publications since 2004). The Developmental Core's role in this process has been in the implementation and coordination of the supportive mechanisms defined above. Final decisions concerning the establishment of priorities and allocation of resources resides with the CFAR Executive Committee and CFAR leadership, which allows flexibility in resource allocation to take advantage of opportunities and to correct weaknesses if any. Institutional support in the form of matching funds from the Dean of the School of Medicine has been made available to further enhance CFAR Developmental Core activities, providing additional leveraged resources to expand Faculty Development, and Small Grants and Emerging Opportunities Awards. Thus, as the Duke CFAR moves forward in its second funding cycle, there is a firm foundation of coordination, cooperation and communication among CFAR members, members of the Duke research community at-large who are working on HIV-related projects, and the leadership ofthe School of Medicine.
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