The specific aims of the Administrative Core (AC) are to develop and support research infrastructure to enhance the capacity of pediatric primary care to assess, triage, and manage depressed and suicidal youth. The AC will convene a Steering Committee (SC), made up of the primary investigators in the Center that sets scientific priorities, provides oversight of projects and resources, oversees human subjects? protection, and supports an annual evaluation. Scientific priorities are developed in collaboration with stakeholders, namely providers of pediatric and mental health care, policy leaders (e.g., health plan administrators, public health officials), parents of patients, and adolescent patients. The SC will appoint a Scientific Advisory Committee that will conduct an annual review of the scientific processes, priorities, and achievements of the Center goals. Human subjects? protection is a high priority because many participants are at moderate to high risk for suicide. Center investigators have extensive experience in recruiting, managing, and developing human subjects? protection procedures for suicidal patients in the context of clinical trials and other research studies. An external DSMB will be appointed that will review Center studies twice a year. Subcommittees of the SC support: (1) stakeholder engagement; (2) training of early career scientists; (3) dissemination of Center findings and products; and (4) innovative new pilots studies. The Stakeholder engagement subcommittee will meet with policy leaders, providers, and patients and parent stakeholders to review progress and problems with extant studies, share results and discuss implications, and to vet and solicit new research ideas. The Training subcommittee will recruit early career scientists to work in the area of adolescent mental health and suicide prevention in the context of pediatric primary care, including applicants from T32s that subcommittee members direct. The Center will support the development of early career scientists by providing scientific consultation, provision of access to data, and sponsoring pilot innovation contests. The Training subcommittee will also develop monthly seminars, sponsor a biannual conference on the delivery of mental health care in pediatric primary care settings, and co-sponsor an annual conference on the use of technology for promoting behavioral health. The Dissemination subcommittee will collaborate with stakeholders on dissemination strategies with regard to Center products such as interventions or decision support devices to determine next steps for implementation or dissemination. The Pilot subcommittee solicits pilot studies through a novel crowdsourcing platform that invites teams of stakeholders and investigators to compete in innovation contests judged by scientists, stakeholders, and business innovators. The Center will set up a website, and support communication of Center findings and products via website, presentations, publications, and social media. In summary, the AC ensures that the Center achieves its goals and serves as a national resource for pediatric primary care-based intervention research designed to reduce the burden of adolescent suicide.
