The mission of the Administrative and Theory (A&T) Core is to facilitate research by the 20 members, 5 trainees, and 38 funded projects that comprise the Duke Transdisciplinary Prevention Research Center (TPRC).
Six aims guide this Core, The first aim is to sustain and expand our multi-disciplinary intellectual community devoted to translational science in adolescent substance use prevention. During our initial tenure as a P20 Center, we have assembled faculty members from 8 administrative departments and 7 disciplines into a genuine community of scholars, the community will be nurtured by multi-disciplinary working groups, an active lunch bunch series, nationally prominent visiting speakers, meetings of advisory boards, an annual day-long retreat, an inviting physical location for investigators to congregate, a regular newsletter, research briefs, and a website.
The second aim i s to cultivate innovative theory about the development and prevention of adolescent substance use.
This aim will be accomplished through a Faculty Fellows Seminar, in which 6 to 8 investigators across disciplines will commit to meet regularly to discuss a common theme or topic (e.g., methods to assess change, commonalities in regulatory process across levels, gene-environment interaction), for the purposes of developing collaborative research studies within the funded projects and proposing new projects.
The third aim i s to facilitate cross-project collaboration by assembling time-limited work groups composed of investigators from projects that share a common theme (e.g., the longitudinal studies of members Moffitt, Caspi, Dodge, Costello, Burton, Strauman, and Costanzo). Members of these work groups will meet regularly to consider common theory-testing, measurement, methods, or data analyses.
The fourth aim i s to nurture the training and career development of junior investigators, through participation in Core activities and support for career development awards and training programs. The fifth aim is to facilitate the administration and grants management of the funded, pending, and planned projects.
The final aim i s to evaluate the TPRC, through annual systematic surveys and an external review. The Administrative and Theory Core of the Duke Transdisciplinary Prevention Research Center will reduce the public health burden of adolescent substance use by supporting multi-disciplinary efforts by investigators to develop innovative theories and programs to prevent substance use.
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