The Administrative Core is the essential infrastructure that will enable synergy and coordination of the projects, scientific cores and the collaborating sites of SickleGenAfrica. The goals of the administrative Core are necessarily broad and include administration and management aimed at providing oversight of the research program of the Center and to coordinate all internal and external meetings of investigators and staff. The core will ensure that projects remain scientifically competitive, and aligned with the scientific premise of the Center by recruiting experts outside of the H3African Center to continually evaluate center research. It will oversee travel centrally by coordinating the travel of investigators, staff, and advisory board members to internal center meetings, H3Africa consortium meetings, and other scientific meetings. The core will be responsible for all non-science-related ordering where practically feasible and provide a budget overview of each project and core at monthly meetings. A major goal of the core is to provide career enhancement opportunities throughout the academic pipeline and promote faculty career development. To this end the core will offer opportunities to students (undergraduate, graduate and postdocs) and early-stage investigators across sub-Saharan Africa with an interest in hemoglobin disorders to acquire cutting-edge training and skills to move-up the academic ladder through a series of short-term and long-term research education programs. It will leverage several existing training programs directed by its Leadership to develop career enriching programs. The administrative core will ensure career development and milestone achievement of junior investigators in the Center. The core will ensure compliance with regulatory requirements before research is able to proceed and will prepare all NIH progress reports and other required information in a timely manner while conforming to NIH and H3Africa policies/guidelines regarding intellectual property and conflict of interest. Center personnel will be committed to following the ethical principles that all human subjects should be afforded; autonomy, beneficence, equity, and privacy, and insuring the appropriate care, use, and humane treatment of animals used for research. The admin core will be responsible for information dissemination via multiple media with peer-reviewed publications being the predominant means. The Core will provide support for planning, graphics support, bibliography generation, proofreading, and submission of manuscripts. In addition, study results will be disseminated through a new website. Additional outlets to reach internal and external entities will be utilized, including related programs at all collaborating institutions, the H3African Consortium, and the press. A primary goal of the administrative core will be for information and data to be quickly and accurately disclosed, and to build community trust in the work of the Center.
