The Research Development Core (RDC) of the Harvard OAIC will provide basic and clinical gerontologic research training for talented senior fellows and junior faculty from multiple departments and disciplines at Harvard Medical School, in order to help them establish independent careers in aging research that will likely result in the enhancement of independence of older persons. Building on our past experience training 50 new faculty in aging research, the RDC will pursue the following specific aims: 1) To develop new faculty involved in aging research by providing pilot grants, mentors, and formal research training for senior research fellows, postdoctoral trainees and junior faculty members; and 2) To create linkages between basic and applied scientists at Harvard Medical School and affiliated institutions in order to enhance the capacity of promising young faculty to develop and test new interventions for the prevention and amelioration of disease and disability in aging individuals. To achieve these aims, the RDC will provide support to such individuals in the form of pilot grants and formal didactic training. We will create linkages between OAIC trainees and Division on Aging faculty through a series of monthly seminars and research presentations. An RDC review committee of faculty from diverse departments at Harvard will help publicize the program and meet 3 times per year to establish policy, monitor the quality of the program, assist in program evaluation, and select trainees for support. Trainee selection will be based on the individual's commitment to aging, prior research experience, mature research career focus, and a well-designed research proposal that has the potential to lead to interventions that will enhance health, quality of life and independence in older Americans. Out of 10 applications reviewed for this proposal, the following have been selected for possible year-1 funding: Mary Beth Hamel, MD, Decision Making and Outcomes far Elderly Patients with Severe Osteoarthritis; Richard Jones, PhD, Course of Pain after Fall/Fracture among Frail Elders; Suzanne Leveille, PhD, Lessening Chronic Disease Self Management and Risks for Disability in Residents of Boston's Inner-City Subsidized Housing for the Elderly; and Jorge Serrador, PhD, Age and Gender Effects on Cerebral Blood Flow Autoregulation. These trainees will work with program mentors who are leaders in aging research, and will attend seminars in ethical conduct, protection of human subjects, research design, scientific methodology, and biostatistics. Thus, with continued RDC support, we will expand our nation's pool of well-trained academic geriatricians who can help further the mission of the OAIC program.
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