The Administrative Core (Core A) functions as the dynamic hub of all activities of the UIC/NIH Center for Botanical Dietary Supplements. It serves as the initial contact point for inquiries from the press, the University, the National Institutes of Health, health care professional, and the lay public. Core A interacts with all other Projects and Cores by arranging meetings and catalyzing ad-hoc interactions between Center scientists. Another function is to organizing seminars, symposia and visits from external scientists.
Specific Aim 1 involves the coordination of internal and external meetings involving Center scientists that result in dissemination of data, productive discussions and self-evaluation. Formal meetings include monthly meetings of the Internal Steering Committee (all Project and Core Leaders), the entire Center (including students and staff), and Plant Study Group meetings (focused on the predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees and junior faculty). Ad-hoc meetings are also coordinated by the Core as needed. The Administrative Core also coordinates formal interactions between the UIC Botanical Center and external entities which include the External Advisory Committee [EAC], collaborators, government entities such as NIH program officers and grant managers, the Illinois Board of Higher Education, and the FDA.
Specific Aim 2 is focused on the administration of our Training and Career Development Program and the Pilot Project Program. Shared goals of both the Pilot Project Program and the Training and Career Development Program are to foster the research programs of junior investigators ? graduate students and postdoctoral trainees as well as junior faculty ? and encourage them to apply for externally sponsored support. We invite the predoctoral and postdoctoral trainees supported by a UIC NCCAM T32 training grant on natural products education to participate in these monthly Training and Career Development Program meetings.
Specific Aim 3 is the development of initiatives to enhance the visibility and effectiveness of the Center as a focus for botanical research. These include the maintenance of the UIC Botanical Center website as well as the organization and sponsorship of an average of 8 seminars per year and at least one symposium. Finally, Core A provides biostatistics support for experimental design and data analysis for all investigators within the UIC Botanical Center (Specific Aim 4). Through this effort, all components of the UIC Botanical Center and the investigators therein benefit from the services of Core A. Administrative Core A continuously interacts with and seeks guidance from each of the Projects and Cores in order to optimize its support of and service to the other Center components.
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