The proposed Core Center for Communication Disorders (CCCD) differs from our generic Core Center of the previous two cycles in that it has a research base that includes faculty members at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln (UNL) and Creighton University Medical Center (CUMC) as well as the Boys Town National Research Hospital (BTNRH). Geographic expansion of the base was not necessary to qualify for the current level of funding or to provide a sufficient number of users for any given core, but it will allow us to develop a more dynamic, growth-oriented Core Center. Our goal is to achieve further expansion that would include grants from the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) and the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) as well as CUMC and UNL as part of the future research base. The larger, multi-institutional center will require greater care in the allocation of center resources than was necessary when the Core Center and the BTNRH research program were synonymous with one another and the same individual served as director of both. Under Approach, we outline the distinctions to be made between allocation of resources for members of the research base and the potential base, the governance structure of the CCCD that will monitor core performance and budgets, and the processes that will be used to make adjustments where necessary. Our prior experience suggests that the ongoing cores of the CCCD will play a significant role in increasing efficiency and collaboration within the research base. We can achieve further increases in both efficiency and collaboration by reaching out to the larger group of programs in the potential research base. This will benefit the programs in the current base at least as much as it will benefit the new programs because it will broaden the scope of the programs conducting research related to communication disorders. The growth of communication disorders research at BTNRH and the neighboring institutions is dependent on the Core Center running smoothly. We have the necessary experience and ties among institutions to develop administrative procedures that will insure success.
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