Investigator Development Core: Abstract The purpose of the investigator development core (IDC) is to train a diverse workforce of individuals able to effectively tackle transdisciplinary problems in health disparities and inequalities as collaborative teams while still serving as leaders in their own disciplines. To fulfill this purpose, this core will provide individualized mentorship teams for trainees, provide pilot grant funding to launch trainee?s progression toward independence, oversee development and completion of trainee?s individual development plans and project progression to the point of publication and submission of applications to external funding agencies. The IDC will utilize the Big, Feasible and Fundable (BFF) seminar series in Health Disparities and the Administrative Core?s Interdisciplinary Research Workgroups (IRWG) activities as pipelines to recruit and identify trainees as well as essential tools to facilitate and assess trainee acquisition of essential skills in communicating and collaborating across disparate disciplines. By being open to both U54 center members as well as those interested in exploring collaborative opportunities, the BFF will also serve as the home base linking and fostering community between diverse multiple transdisciplinary teams. Our proposed program has the advantage of providing benefit not only to individuals selected as trainees but also to the larger campus community of potential trainees as well as for current and potential collaborators, mentors and U54 participants.
