Health Resources (HR) Core

The Health Resources (HR) Core will manage all research supported by the LCTRC, supporting two types of projects to increase the Clinical and Translational (C&T) workforce and strengthen investigator- initiated C&T research. We will support two types of seed grants—pilots and developmental grants. We will purposefully be

inclusive of historically underrepresented groups. The HR Core is responsible for soliciting, reviewing, selecting and administering these projects. We prioritize community-engaged research, research on health disparities, and research studying diseases that affect LCTRC populations or involve collaborations of basic,

clinical, and translational researchers. The HR Core will ensure that research subjects involved in HR Core- supported projects are representative of the populations we serve, and that our investigators, likewise, represent those groups. The HR Core will work closely with the PD Core to identify relevant topics, deliver

training, and find/develop mentors to prepare investigators to conduct C&T research. We will work with the CEO Core to ensure that a portion of the grants supported in the HR Core are community engaged research and that research recommendations from the community are incorporated into pilot and developmental

projects. We will work with the RDCD Core to ensure that all HR Core supported projects are well designed, executed, and analyzed. We will work with the Administrative Core to evaluate progress, to ensure that the overall goals of the LCTRC are achieved in a fiscally and ethically responsible fashion, and with the CTU in the

AC in order to assure regulatory compliance. Our objective is to provide new clinical and translational investigators with the necessary resources to increase their competitiveness to secure extramural funding and to create the next generation of innovations to improve the quality of life of Kentuckians and beyond. We will

achieve our goal through the following Aims: Specific Aim 1: Solicit, review, and select new Pilot Projects with the potential to develop independent applications such as NIH career development (K-series) or developmental research project awards (e.g., R21). Specific Aim 2: Solicit, review, and select new

Developmental Projects for two years of support for independent investigators with the requisite background and scientific expertise. Specific Aim 3: Pair project leads of HR Core projects that involve clinical trials with experienced clinician scientists who serve as mentors and make necessary core

resources available to investigators. Specific Aim 4: Monitor HR Core projects to ensure study participant safety and that all federal, state, local, and organizational regulatory requirements are met. We will also monitor projects for abstract, paper, grant application, and external funding productivity.

Impact: The research supported in this core will result in a critical increase in clinical and translational research at UofL and its partners and will develop our next generation of clinical and translational scientists.