This proposal, submitted under the U13 (cooperative Agreement) mechanism, requests support for five annual meetings of the GCRC Program. The three major objectives of these meetings will be: (1) to demonstrate, reinforce, enhance, and stimulate the scientific excellence in patient- oriented/clinical research, particularly that which is and/or will be taking place on the Centers that together comprise the nationwide GCRC network; (2) to create an environment at which our best junior investigators will have an opportunity to present their own research, interact with one another, and be instructed by national leaders in the area of clinical research; and (3) to establish a forum for administrative dialogue between the leaders of the 75 GCRCs around the country and the representatives of the GCRC Program from the NIH. It is anticipated that this latter dialogue will, in turn, promote the effective exchange of ideas, garner support for new initiatives in human investigation, and lead to an integrated response to public mandates regarding patient-oriented research. To assure that the three main objectives of the annual meeting of the GCRC Program are accomplished, a Steering Committee is proposed. This committee, which will be composed of representatives from both the national GCRC network and from the NIH, will meet via monthly conference calls. The makeup of the committee will include: the Program Chairperson who will be selected each year by the executive committee of the GCRC Program Directors Association; a designated representative from each of the relevant GCRC organizations (i.e., Administrative Managers, Computer systems Managers, Research Dietitians, Research Nurses, and CAPS/M-CAPs); and a designated representative from the NIH GCRC staff. Additional participants in these monthly meetings will include the president of the GCRC Program Directors Association and the program representative from Meetings and Events, the conference organizer. This latter individual will also be responsible for scheduling the conference calls. Each two-day meeting will be held on the first Thursday and Friday of March in the metropolitan DC area. The 1998 meeting will be held at the Marriott Hotel (Gateway) in Crystal City, VA. Based on the past several meetings, we anticipate attendance by over 500 individuals including: 175 Program Directors and Associate Program Directors, 70 Nurse Managers, 70 Research Dietitians, 70 Administrative Managers, 50 Computer Systems Managers, 15 Biostatisticians, and 75 CAPs/MCAPs.
