For 6 years, the UCLA OAIC Recruitment and Retention Core (RRC) has provided invaluable assistance to academic investigators seeking to enhance the reach and impact of their funded science by enrolling lower income and minority seniors. Under the leadership of Dr. Mangione until 2011 and Dr. Sarkisian since 2011, the OAIC RRC has successfully facilitated recruitment of lower income and minority senior subjects for 30 different projects. With the RRC's track record and the increased national focus on translational research, the OAIC RRC has evolved into a highly sought-after resource. In this renewal application we seek to continue the highly successful model of the RRC's past 6 years while at the same time expand the level of the Core's collaborations to include not only recruitment and retention but also other critical components of community-partnered research: bi-directional project development, evaluation and dissemination of findings, and creating new research capabilities of our community partners. The RRC will facilitate new partnerships between community partners and affiliated scientists, work closely with our Community Action Board (CAB) to disseminate findings in a manner designed to maximize community impact, and work in partnership with the UCLA Clinical and Translational Science Institute (CTSI) to develop and implement a research training program for senior center staff .across the Los Angeles aging services network. The OAIC RRC challenges the current inefficient """"""""project to project"""""""" community-partnered research model by utilizing an innovative single """"""""point of entry"""""""" for scientists and community partners to come together to deploy equitably partnered research. This infrastructure fundamentally changes the way research is conducted, will enhance the quality, relevance and scientific impact of aging research, and will greatly accelerate the rate of translation of research into community-based programs. Dr. Sarkisian will continue as Core Leader, bringing her expertise as a geriatrician and Director of the NIA-funded Los Angeles Community Academic Partnership for Research in Aging (L.A. CAPRA) Center, with its influential and well-connected CAB and vast network of community partners. Dr. Mangione will continue as Core Co-leader;as Director of the UCLA Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and the NIA-funded UCLA/Drew Resource Center for Minority Aging Research, she brings expertise and access to large numbers of investigators in training who can use RRC resources to become the next generation of researchers in aging.
This core will take a leadership role in addressing T2 translational science;specifically the RRC will facilitate community-partnered research to move from carefully conducted clinical studies into everyday practice in real-world community settings in order to improve the quality of life of vulnerable low income and minority seniors. With our wide-ranging ethnic diversity, conducting such science in the greater Los Angeles region represents an outstanding opportunity to implement and evaluate programs with seniors today who represent the seniors of tomorrow for the rest of the nation.
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