Leadership and Administrative Core

Leadership and Administrative Core (LAC): Project Summary This Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Older Americans Independence Center (OAIC) Leadership and Administrative Core (LAC) was designed to provide the scientific leadership, organization and infrastructure necessary to lead and oversee the frailty-focused activities of this OAIC. The overall goal of the LAC is to ensure the ongoing success of this OAIC in stimulating and sustaining the next generation of frailty-related science and the next generation of frailty-focused investigators. The aims of this LAC are to: 1) provide the interdisciplinary intellectual leadership needed to stimulate and sustain the development of innovative frailty- focused research addressing diverse populations, facilitate translation between basic and clinical research on frailty, develop innovative intervention and prevention strategies from these biological and clinical discoveries, and ensure effective, high impact utilization of each OAIC core; 2) identify and attract the next generation of frailty-focused research leaders from diverse backgrounds at JHU and facilitate training, career development and access to resources to promote their emergence as independent, interdisciplinary investigators in this field; 3) organize independent panels for review of: Resource Core Developmental Projects, Pilot/Exploratory Studies, and for the selection of specific junior faculty to receive salary support from the Research Education Component, and progress towards OAIC goals, conducted annually by an External Advisory Board; 4) lead, administer, and oversee core functions to assure productivity, cost effectiveness, integration, and quality of all aspects of this OAIC program, and to well steward OAIC resources; 5) prepare reports for non-competing renewal applications, annually, and administrative documents as needed, including data safety monitoring documentation; 6) organize and conduct scientific sessions to propel the frailty-focused science and career development of participants in OAIC retreats, research in progress meetings, and research planning meetings; and 7) maximize JHU OAIC scholarly visibility locally and nationally via local programming and participation in the OAIC network, the annual OAIC scientific meeting and annual scientific meetings of aging or frailty focused organizations, and through OAIC-led information and dissemination resources. This Core will set goals with all other cores and ensure that goals are met. It will lead visioning discussions among the multidisciplinary Leadership Council as to scientific direction and clinical relevance; provide institutional leadership in identifying the investigators and mechanisms to accomplish the Center’s scientific goals; and provide leadership and organization to ensure the successful development and implementation of the infrastructure and new methods needed to support investigators in furthering research on frailty and its translation to increase the independence of older adults.