The CONNECT-TBI program represents a multidisciplinary collaboration uniting 26 internationally regarded experts in TBI and neurodegeneration across 12 leading institutions to deliver a single point of access to an unparalleled research tissue resource. To achieve this, we have developed an administrative strategy to coordinate and manage this strong collaborative team to ensure successful and timely delivery of the overall goals and all scientific, brain banking, budgetary, reporting and governance activities within CONNECT-TBI. Led by Program PIs Drs. Douglas Smith and Willie Stewart as co-directors, the Administrative Core will provide internal and external project oversight and review mechanisms against CONNECT-TBI milestones. The Administrative Core will also work to establish and coordinate tissue archiving and access procedures for external, research led enquiries, including procedures for broad and enduring institutional review and material transfer. To this end, the goals of the CONNECT-TBI Administrative Core are to, 1) Establish multidisciplinary project oversight and review via an Internal Governance Committee and External Advisory Board, with a calendar for meetings and to monitor progress against milestones, 2) Establish network governance procedures, including those to facilitate broad and enduring institutional review and material transfer agreement procedures for the CONNECT-TBI archive, 3) Create the CONNECT-TBI website to: facilitate communication on program achievements; act as the access point for enquiries and tissue applications from external researchers; and as a central and accessible repository for all CONNECT-TBI program generated protocols and 4) Coordinate management of data transfer from CONNECT-TBI to Federal Interagency TBI Research (FITBIR) Informatics system to enable access of acquired data to the broader TBI research community.
