This proposal seeks five years of support to establish the Native Elder Research Center (NERC), the specific aims of which are to: 1) provide the administrative structure, supported by a large, comprehensive array of unique programs, required to direct and coordinate a culturally relevant, scientifically meritorious research career development program targeted to AI/AN investigators; 2) augment already active partnerships with AI/AN communities that ensure continuous access to and involvement of elders, their families, and local systems of care in the aging research process; 3) capitalize on an extensive network of collaborative links to identify, recruit, and sustain cadre of AI/AN investigators willing to commit themselves to developing their potential as scientists specializing in aging research; 4) implement a carefully crafted set of mechanisms -- informed by nearly two decades of experience -- to equip AI/AN investigators from successful research careers at the interface of aging, health, and culture; 5) enlarge an existing group of investigators to include even more diverse disciplinary expertise of an exceptionally qualified nature that can address a broad range of high priority questions related to the aging of Native elders, and 6) promote of research that holds considerable promise for reducing the differentials in health status and access to care which now plaque this special population. The NERC will be housed within the Division of American Indian and Alaska Native Programs, of the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. In this regard, it will join three other, relevant national programs; the National Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Mental Health Research (NCIANMHR), Nature Program Office of the Healthy Nations Initiative (NPO/HNI), and Native Elder Health Care Resource Center (NEHCRC).
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