CORE--INVESTIGATOR DEVELOPMENT

University Of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

The long-term objectives of the UCLA/Drew CHIME IDC is to provide mentoring and research support to African-American and Latino faculty who are interested in developing academic careers that will focus on improving the health of Latino and/or African-American elders. The specific aims of the IDC include: 1. Supporting a pilot grants program consisting of, at a minimum, 3 new projects each year designed to foster the development of innovative, community-based health services research designed to improve the health of minority elders and ultimately to contribute to the science needed to reduce disparities in health care; 2. Providing structured mentorship for trainees, junior and mid-level faculty who are seeking research careers that focus on the health of minority elders; 3. Providing a structured curriculum to prepare minority faculty with requisite research skills to design and carry out studies in the community that address health disparities and to succeed as tenured researchers who have focused their research on minority aging; 4. Developing a plan for dissemination and evaluation of UCLA/Drew CHIME findings for local communities and scientific community. The methods used to achieve IDC's primary goal of recruiting and retaining minority faculty for minority aging research will be the following: IDC Faculty will transfer information to minority investigators through a structured core and individualized curriculum on a community-focused health services research on minority elders. The IDC will build on already established successful mentorship networks to support minority investigators seeking to pursue careers focusing on aging research. This network includes the Division of General internal Medicine and Health Services Research, the Division of Geriatrics (both UCLA Departments of Medicine), the Charles R. Drew University, and a number of NIA funded centers in our environment. We will continue to mentor post-pilot study investigators by helping them identify funding for the next phase of their research and careers. We will continually improve the program through on-going evaluation of the IDC's performance.