RESOURCE CORE 1: RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION CORE

University Of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Linked publications, trials & patents

Abstract

For 5 years, the UCLA OAIC Recruitment Core (RC) has provided invaluable assistance to academic investigators seeking to enhance the reach and impact of their funded science by enrolling lower income and minority seniors. Under the leadership of Dr. Mangione, the OAIC RC successfully facilitated recruitment of lower income and minority senior subjects for 16 different projects. With the RC's track record and the increased national focus on translational research, the OAIC RC has evolved into a highly sought-after resource for fellows and junior faculty members working on their first research projects as well as senior independent investigators unfamiliar with community-based participatory research methods. In this renewal application we seek to continue the highly successful model of the RC's past 5 years while at the same time extend the level of the Core's collaborations to include not only recruitment but also several other critical components of community-partnered research: project development, participant retention, evaluation, and dissemination. In light of these expanded functions, the Core will be re-named the OAIC Recruitment and Retention Core (RRC). Dr. Sarkisian will assume the role of Core Leader, bringing her expertise as a geriatrician and Director of the recently-established NIA-funded Los Angeles Community Academic Partnership for Research in Aging (L.A. CAPRA) Center. The RRC will accelerate and facilitate recruitment and retention of lower income and minority seniors, expand and enhance the existing UCLA OAIC registry of older adults interested in participating in research, and work closely with its Community Action Board and the UCLA OAIC Information Dissemination Core to disseminate findings in a manner designed to maximize community impact. The OAIC RRC challenges the current inefficient "project to project" community-partnered research model by establishing an innovative single "point of entry" for scientists and community partners to come together to deploy equitably partnered research. This infrastructure fundamentally changes the way research is conducted, will create a new generation of scientists who are expert in community participatory research, and will greatly accelerate the rate of translation of research into community-based programs.