The Boston Older Americans Independence Center (Boston OAIC) has transcended the departmental, institutional, and disciplinary boundaries to forge an interdisciplinary research network to foster translational research in function promoting therapies (FPTs) ? pharmacologic, physical, nutritional, technological, and behavioral interventions that reduce the burden of disabling functional limitations in older adults. This competing continuation of the Boston OAIC builds upon a highly productive research network of resources and extant collaborations among leading aging researchers from Harvard Medical School and its affiliated medical centers, with additional opportunistic collaborations with investigators from Boston University and Tufts University. With the inclusion of Dr. Lipsitz as Associate Director and REC Director, Dr. Marcantonio and Wagers as REC Associate Directors, and Dr. Kiel as PESC Co-Leader, the Boston OAIC is now well integrated with the the Harvard Geriatrics and Gerontology research community and programs, including its T32 training grant, Harvard Clinical Translational Science Institute, the Roybal Center, The New England Geriatrics Research Clinical Education Center, and the Glenn Foundation Center for Biology of Aging. The LAC is responsible for stimulating, sustaining, evaluating, and reporting OAIC's progress towards its goals and enabling integration of OAIC activities. In addition to providing administrative support, the LAC coordinates the activities of Boston OAIC's investigators, resource cores, its conferences, and career development activities. The LAC issues requests for application for its PES, REC, and developmental projects and oversees the review of applications. The LAC evaluates the operations of all of its component cores and maintains accountability of its participating members and cores. The LAC directs the Boston OAIC through ongoing interaction with the advisory boards, and the NIA staff, monitors the activities and progress of OAIC's projects. The LAC maintains integration across the various components of OAIC through its PROMOTE Program by organizing monthly conferences, annual retreats, and maintaining a website and a newsletter. The OAIC leaders serve as science concierges to facilitate collaborations among scientists from various institutions and access to core resources. The LAC leadership scouts the participating institutions for the most promising early career scientists for its REC program, and emerging science projects for PESC or developmental project support. LAC facilitates commercialization of discoveries and innovations through its LINK program. The LAC leadership interacts with investigators at other OAICs to establish collaborations, a task in which it has had extraordinary success during the past 5 years (Progress Report). It oversees the dissemination of information about the OAIC among stakeholders, and maintains community outreach through the Ambassador Program. Thus the LAC stimulates, sustains, integrates, and evaluates the activities of the OAIC, and enables the integration of OAIC activities consistent with its goal of promoting translational research in FPTs.
The Leadership and Administrative Core of the Boston OAIC stimulates, sustains, coordinates, and evaluates the activities of the OAIC, and LAC maintains integration across the various components of OAIC through its PROMOTE Program by organizing monthly conferences, annual retreats, and maintaining a website and a newsletter. The OAIC leaders serve as science concierges to facilitate collaborations among OAIC scientists and programs, and scout the participating institutions for the most promising early career scientists for its REC program, and emerging science projects for PESC or developmental project support. LAC facilitates commercialization of discoveries and innovations through its LINK program.
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