The Administrative Core will use its personnel's expertise to support all four Projects and Cores in the Program. The Core Leader, Dr. Solaro, in conjunction with the Advisory committees, oversees progression of the Projects and Cores. Activities provided by this Core include fiscal management, generating progress reports, scheduling meetings and seminars, and maintaining regular communication with other University Centers and Departments at UIC and Loyola, including the Center for Cardiovascular Research, and consultants for the Program. Budgets for investigator travel, maintenance contracts, consultants, and seminar/workshop programs are centralized in this Core. Kathleen Engstrom, Business Manager and Assistant to Dr. Solaro, oversees fiscal management of the Program, including budget reporting and monitoring of expenditures from the Projects and Cores for travel, maintenance contracts, and the seminar program. She supervises the activities of Ms. Donafi, and other departmental staff, supported by UIC. Staff organizes and prepares progress reports for internal use and reporting to the NIH and to outside consultants. Ms. Gentry also organizes meetings and retreats with project leaders, core leaders, and program research personnel. She also schedules visits with inside and outside consultants, and works with Dr. Solaro on organizing seminars related to the Program. Elyse Donati is responsible for reconciling expenditures and preparing monthly financial reports for all the Projects and Cores. Working with Ms. Engstrom, she meets with the Project and Core directors on a regular basis to review grant expenditures and provide fiscal counseling to ensure all expenditures are appropriate and allowable per federal cost guidelines. The Administrative Core organizes activities if the External and Internal Advisory Committees. The charge of the External Advisory Committee is to provide expert peer review of our program. The following outstanding scientists have agreed to serve on this panel: Dr. James Potter, University of Miami School of Medicine, Dr. Earl Homsher, UCLA School of Medicine, Dr. Dale Abel, University of Utah, and Dr. Carol Gregorio, University of Arizona. Each of these scientists is a world authority in their area expertise. Project Leaders have had long standing interactions with Advisory Committee members, which assures their commitment and participation. Drs. Solaro and Homsher were graduate students together at University of Pittsburgh. Homsher is leading investigator in muscle mechanics and energetics, and is currently applying the single myofibril technique. Drs. Solaro and Potter were faculty members together at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Potter is one of the world leaders in investigation of troponin biochemistry and integrative biology. Dr. Abel is a leading investigator in the area of cardiac metabolism, and will bring his clinical and scientific expertise to the table. Dr. Gregorio has had a long standing common interest and interactions with Dr. Russell and Samarel and with Dr. Solaro, and adds a new dimension to the external review process. As in the past this committee will continue to visit the program on a regular basis. The advisor is given a summary of the projects in advance of the visit, and spends the day meeting with individual project and core directors and with program scientists as a group. We ask for a written report and notes are taken during these meetings. Recommendations of the External Advisory Committee are made to the Program Director and these are shared with the Internal Advisory Committee and with members of the program at their regular meetings. After thorough discussions, a plan of action is outlined, discussed with appropriate members of the team, and implemented. Any action taken as a result of this process will be reported to the NHLBI as a part of the annual progress report. The charge of the Internal Advisory Committee is to advise the Program Director on major policy decisions and recommendations made by the External Advisory Committee. Members of the Committee are Dr. Asrar Malik , Head of Pharmacology, who also directs a Program Project Grant, Dr. Larry Tobacman, Professor of Medicine and Director of the MD/PhD program, Dr. Jack Kaplan, Head of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Genefics, Dr. Scott T. Brady, Head of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Ms. Kathleen Engstrom Assistant to the Head, Department of Physiology and Biophysics (ex-officio). Specific responsibilities of the Internal Advisory Committee include advice on overall scientific program planning, continuing evaluation of ongoing projects, termination of projects, and initiation of new studies. The Committee meets 2-3 times a year to discuss progress, major policy and financial aspects. In the event a Project Leader leaves the University, the Internal Advisory Committee has the responsibility for recommending to the Program Director, an appropriate course of action. If a new Project Leader is recommended, the candidate will submit a proposal for taking over a project. The change in the Project will be subject to t he final approval of Dr. Solaro, who would then request permission for the change from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.
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