The Gerontological Society of America Tapped to Lead Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) National Coordinating Center
The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) — the nation’s largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to the field of aging — has been awarded a $3.89 million cooperative agreement over five years from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) to run the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) National Coordinating Center.
The RCMAR program supports behavioral and social research on aging, health disparities in older adults, and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (ADRD) through the development of research infrastructure and the mentorship of early career scientists from diverse backgrounds, including, but not limited to, individuals from racial and ethnic groups underrepresented in biomedical and behavioral research, individuals with disabilities, and women.
The leadership team for this cooperative agreement includes Patricia M. D’Antonio, BSPharm, MS, MBA, BCGP, GSA vice president of policy and professional affairs and executive director of the National Center to Reframe Aging; Tamara A. Baker, PhD, FGSA, professor in the Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and associate director of research in the Department of Psychiatry’s Mental Health Equity Program; Lisa L. Barnes, PhD, FGSA, the Alla V. and Solomon Jesmer Professor of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine and a cognitive neuropsychologist in the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center; Carmen Sceppa, MD, PhD, FGSA, dean of the Bouvé College of Health Sciences and professor of health sciences at Northeastern University; and James C. Appleby, BSPharm, MPH, ScD (Hon), GSA chief executive officer.
“Based at GSA, the RCMAR National Coordinating Center will draw upon the Society’s well-established infrastructure and leverage its deep expertise in coordinating complex activities, convening large and small meetings, collaborating with colleague organizations and diverse stakeholders, catalyzing synergistic and diverse research products, and communicating within and beyond the aging field through its peer-reviewed journals and public-oriented programs,” D’Antonio said.
The mission of the National Coordinating Center is to provide support and coordination to RCMAR centers and AD/ADRD RCMAR centers, and cofunction with NIA and the RCMAR enterprise to bolster the mentorship and career development of researchers from diverse backgrounds and foster rigorous behavioral and social science research in aging, health disparities, equity, and AD/ADRD.
“GSA’s portfolio of programs, activities, and dissemination vehicles provides a unique and valuable platform for building a strong and thriving National Coordinating Center,” Appleby said. “GSA brings to bear this same comprehensive resource base to support the efforts of the National Coordinating Center, which will extend the dissemination of RCMAR center activities to the broader scientific research community, the media, the corporate sector, policy experts, decision-makers, and the public.”
The RCMAR National Coordinating Center is supported by the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U24AG083253. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the National Institute on Aging.
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The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) is the nation's oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. The principal mission of the Society — and its 5,500+ members — is to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public. GSA’s structure also includes a policy institute, the National Academy on an Aging Society.