Core A - Administrative and Research Support Core

REVISED ABSTRACT – CORE A: ADMINISTRATIVE AND RESEARCH SUPPORT CORE (ARC) The Administrative and Research Support Core (ARC) is responsible for initiating and coordinating all activities undertaken by the USC/UCLA Center on Biodemography and Population Health (CBPH). The overarching aim of the Center is to promote scientifically important research and to develop infrastructure and resources designed to foster and support innovation and progress in methodological and substantive issues that will most effectively promote significant scientific advancement in the area of Biodemography. To accomplish our goal, the ARC leverages the unique and complementary expertise of the Center’s co-directors and their respective institutions, combining expertise and experience in classic demographic analysis and methods, genetics and genomic theory and methods, and clinic- and community-based, epidemiological/biological research methods. The aims of the ARC are to: (1) provide scientific leadership by setting research priorities, organizing meetings, workshops and webinars, and coordinating input from scientific advisory groups with substantive and methodological expertise in areas central to the Center’s themes (e.g., lab specialists, multi-omics, and artificial intelligence/machine learning); (2) oversee and support the activities of the Center’s Program Development Core (PDC), Communication and Dissemination Core (CDC), and External Research Resources Support Core (ERRSC); and (3) manage the administrative, financial, and reporting responsibilities of the CBPH. The Center’s past efforts have generated methodological and substantive knowledge of great value to population health researchers generally, and have promoted growth of the field of biodemography in particular by encouraging improvements in methods relating to collection and analysis of biological data and substantive understanding of biological parameters. The ARC will also continue to develop a broad network of population health and biodemography researchers at USC/UCLA as well as nationwide and globally. As part of this effort, the Center will expand its affiliates to include researchers from universities that do not have population aging centers and/or lack biodemographic resources, broadening the impact of the CBPH’s mission. The effective administration of the CPBH has been largely responsible for accomplishing Center aims. We propose to maintain these effective organizational structures and functions of the ARC from the past period in order to continue to provide the biodemographic infrastructure needed to support significant expansion of scientific progress in addressing major substantive questions in the field of biodemography.