The RCMI Cancer Research Center at Xavier University will provide a critical platform for researchers of diverse training and expertise to effectively address racial disparities with a focus on cancer biology, cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and clinical outcome. The overarching goal of the RCMI Program at Xavier University is to enhance biomedical research capacity in minority health and health disparities. To reach this goal, we plan to enhance faculty and programmatic research competitiveness, especially in the areas of cancer, minority health disparities and translational research. The Administrative Core will function as the managing unit of Xavier's RCMI program by providing leadership and creating a collaborative infrastructure that manages, coordinates, integrates, and supports the scope of the RCMI program activities. The Administrative Core will promote and facilitate integrated communications within and across the Investigator Development, Resource Infrastructure and Community Engagement Cores and the three proposed research projects. The Administrative Core will also be responsible for evaluating the progress of each research project and all cores to ensure each evaluation metrics of the RCMI program are met. The Administrative Core will effectively manage the RCMI Program by achieving five specific aims.
Aim 1. Provide effective leadership in managing the key RCMI activities. The Admin Core leadership team will consist of PIs, Core Directors, and Program Managers, have monthly meetings to review progress, identify problems, discuss and implement solutions and improvement plans to ensure that each program goal is achieved as measured by assessment milestones.
Aim 2. To implement processes for efficient use of the research infrastructure core facilities. The Administrative Core will have monthly standing meetings with the core faculty expertise group to review core operations, policies and procedures. Quarterly core service surveys and quarterly core service reports will be collected which track user satisfaction, core efficiency, and outcomes as measured by core-citing publications and grant applications with core participation.
Aim 3. To provide administrative assistance in developing successful grant proposals for external support. The Admin Core will work collaboratively with Xavier's Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP) to assist faculty and staff in obtaining external grants and contracts, including identifying potential sources of funding, providing professional review of proposals prior to submission, and assisting faculty in the administration of their grants. The RCMI will organize seminars and grant writing workshops jointly with ORSP and provide financial and logistic support to a network of mentors for pilot projects and junior investigators in developing grantsmanship.
Aim 4. To promote and facilitate the development of a diverse pool of investigators actively engaged in research on minority health and health disparity diseases, and in community-based behavioral research. The Investigator Development Core will support early stage investigators in conducting basic biomedical research related to cancer and health disparities as well as community-based health disparity research but who have not received independent funding from external sources such as NIH.
Aim 5. To implement the RCMI Program evaluation plan by coordinating with the RCMI Advisory Committee, the CEC Community Advisory Board, and the Independent Evaluator. The Administrative Core will coordinate and oversee the comprehensive evaluation of the RCMI program in enhancing the institutional infrastructure and environment necessary to facilitate biomedical research in cancer and cancer related health disparities, increasing productivity of investigators in peer- reviewed publications and discovery, and increasing the Xavier investigators' overall success in securing extramural research funding. In addition, the Administrative Core will organize RCMI-wide meetings and conferences, including meetings of the Advisory Committee and pilot project review sessions. The Admin Core will also be responsible for ensuring compliance of all RCMI research activities with IRB and IACUC and other federal, state, and local regulations.
