Administrative Core A

Project summary C-COMP will be supported by an Administrative Core that will manage the overall Center and implement and oversee an innovative Enrichment Program. Core A will work with both resource cores, the entire C-COMP research community, and the affiliated Centers to build and support a vibrant, growing, multidisciplinary, collaborative, and translational research community for the study of pain in musculoskeletal (MSK) and rheumatic diseases. The long-term broad objectives are: (1) To foster high-quality, innovative, standardized, focused research on the topic of pain in rheumatic and MSK diseases; (2) To promote translationally relevant cross-disciplinary research, based on collaborations between MSK researchers and pain researchers/neuroscientists; and (3) To expand the Research Community in this area, and increase extramural funding for this understudied topic. This will be achieved through the following complementary aims: Aim 1. To provide leadership to the Center. A multidisciplinary leadership structure will implement an administrative and operational infrastructure that unites all components into a seamless Center that creates synergy across the Cores. The Executive Leadership comprises the Director (A.M. Malfait), Associate Director (J.J. Jacobs), and Resource Core Directors (R.E. Miller, R.J. Miller, D.R. Sumner). They will be advised by Internal and External Advisory Boards with complementary and wide-ranging backgrounds; Aim 2. To coordinate, integrate, and evaluate the Center components and activities. Management plans for the Center will include fiscal administration, property and personnel management, planning, budgeting, coordination of regulatory compliance, including vertebrate animal protection. Resource Cores and Enrichment Programs will be evaluated on an ongoing basis, monthly at Executive Leadership meetings and bi-annually by the Advisory Board. The Center will monitor current and predict future scientific needs of the research community; Aim 3. To maintain effective communication with the Center’s Research Community, and the broader MSK and pain research community. To achieve this, we will create and maintain a dedicated website (C-COMP portal) that will be a one-stop source for information and a platform for exchange (dissemination of scientific information, access to enrichment programs and RFAs for pilot grants) We will also disseminate information through a monthly newsletter, e-mail blasts, Twitter, and a monthly blog; Aim 4. To design, implement, manage, and grow an innovative and dynamic Enrichment Program. We are planning (1) Resource Core outreach activities aiming to stimulate high-quality research and provide training through hands-on training and tutorials made available through the portal, and online discussion groups; (2) Initiatives for expanding the community and strengthening it through innovative, translational research will include a seminar series, an Annual Investigators Meeting, a “Clinical Researcher Resource” panel, partnerships with affiliated Centers, and a pilot grant program.