Investigator Development Core The Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Health Disparities is devoted to improving the health and quality of life of AI/AN people and offers a supportive environment for health disparities research that aligns with the mandates of the this RFA. Responding to the recalcitrant disparities documented by Healthy People 2020, the Pilot Projects funded by this Investigator Development Core (IDC) will address underserved populations, emphasizing our theme of Alzheimer's disease and related disorders (ADRDs) within a Precision Medicine (PM) framework. The IDC is designed to identify and allocate substantial funding to support Pilot Projects that can affect sustained, widespread reductions in ADRD health disparities of all kinds by a) conducting analyses using existing datasets that include adequate numbers of minority or underserved individuals; 2) rigorously testing practices, treatments, educational efforts, and policies; and c) conducting qualtitative work that illuminates quantitative or administrative findings or comprises formative science. Led by Drs. Spero Manson and William Henderson, a well regarded, highly experienced biostatistician, we will facilitate the career success of Pilot Project investigators by offering grant-writing workshops that provide guidance from highly successful senior scientists and sophisticated design, methodologic, analytic, and research review services. Together, these integrated activities will helppostdoctoral/post-residency trainees, junior faculty, and early stage investigators (collectively called junior investigators) obtain external funding, such as mentored K Awards, R01 series grants, and other mechanisms appropriate to their career level. This Core will offer numerous possibilities for ADRD and PM research, including studies of the etiology, biology, genetics, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of ADRDs and their clinical, psychosocial, and economic consequences. We will leverage the successful experience of our other, existing pilot fund and research career development programs to rapidly develop application procedures and selection criteria. Notably, we will recruit a broad range of investigators from UCD/AMC w can begin or augment their research with IDC support. Given serious concerns about the dearth of minority Principal Investigators (PIs), we will ho actively solicit applications from AI/AN and other underrepresented minority (URM) junior investigators, using personal contact, word of mouth, minority-serving institutional units, email, and other effective means to achieve this goal.
