The Administrative Core supports the mission of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM IDDRC) to identify as many causes of IDD as possible, to understand their pathogenesis, and to develop novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches by providing oversight and management of the activities of the entire Center, disseminating information about advancements and coordinating collaborative efforts with researchers in the IDDRC network and around the world. Dr. Huda Zoghbi has served as the Center Director for more than 25 years and is joined by Drs. David Nelson and Rodney Samaco to form the Executive Team of the Administrative Core. The Executive Team is dedicated to ensuring that the BCM IDDRC is a most innovative and efficient Center. The overarching goal of the Administrative Core is to enhance IDD research activities at BCM by encouraging and fostering local and collaborative research efforts, the development of therapies to treat IDD, attracting and training investigators to enhance the workforce in IDD research and disseminating information through engagement, communication and education of stakeholders. This Core will support faculty research into IDD through provision of strategic core facilities and by developing new core services as fields advance. All research projects are proposed for use of the Administrative Core. This Core helps align core services to the overall mission of the Center, works with the Core Directors to monitor and ensure that the services provided are high-quality and cost-effective, and ensures that the Core services capitalize on existing resources and institutional support from BCM. The core will also support translational efforts in IDD through the Clinical Translational Core, designed to assist investigators with designing and carrying out human research including IRB approval, acquisition of biospecimens, diagnostic studies, and therapeutic interventions for people with IDD and a multidisciplinary signature research project that will lead to clinical trial readiness, developing biomarkers specific and sensitive to altered gene dosage. In order to promote and enhance collaborative efforts and dissemination of knowledge, the Core proposes a plan for engagement, communication, and education (ECE), extending the reach of the Center?s activities to stakeholders at the local, state, and national levels. The ECE will implement best practices for community partnerships building on and extending existing community relationships to ensure ongoing bi-directional communication, inform investigators and the community of questions/concerns by each group, ensure successful recruitment and retention of study participants, and determine feasibility of future studies in this population. The Administrative Core recognizes the importance of broad collaborations, especially with the IDDRC network and will continue to contribute to and collaborate with all network activities.
