The Career Enhancement Core (CEC) will be responsible for implementing innovative programs to enhance collaborations, training, education, recruitment of new investigators, and community outreach. The CEC with work closely with the Leadership Administrative Core (LAC) to carry out the specific aims of the CEC, specifically overseeing the implementation of the pilot and feasibility programs to provide seed grant funding, the recruitment and mentoring of young investigators, organization of educational conferences and community outreach.
The specific aims of the CEC are: 1) To provide seed grant funds for innovative research relevant to the overall SCORE mission and the UCLA SCORE research program leading to extramural funds, 2) To recruit and foster the career development of students, trainees and junior investigators who conduct research focused on sex differences or women's health in brain-gut disorders, 3) To facilitate and promote collaboration between the UCLA SCORE and other academic programs involved in women's health education and research, and 4) To promote the importance of sex as a biological variable (SABV) through community outreach using collaborative and innovative approaches. The CEC will leverage existing pilot grant programs on campus by providing supplemental funds to support novel translational research with a focus on sex differences in brain- gut interactions and/or women's health. These grant programs provide support to a wide range of young investigators from undergraduate students to junior faculty. Our Center has a longstanding history of successfully recruiting and mentoring young investigators with over half being women, organizing educational conferences and research meetings, and implementing community outreach to foster public awareness and interest in brain-gut microbiome science. Using the same team and approach, we will also promote sex as a biologic variable research with lectures, seminars and via social media which will contribute tremendously to educating and raising public awareness on sex differences and women's health.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a disorder affecting 30 million Americans and is thought to arise in part from problems in the way the brain and gut interact. This Core will provide innovative programs to enhance collaboration, training, education and recruitment of new investigators, and community outreach. It is therefore critical for the overall success of the projects in their efforts towards better understanding and treatment for IBS.
