Editor’s note: Updated for the 2022/2023 application cycle.
The Schaeffer Center, through the USC Alzheimer’s Disease Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (USC AD-RCMAR), is currently accepting applications for junior scientists to fund one-year research pilot projects. Pilot projects with a special interest in cognitive decline and/or Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias are encouraged. Information about the application process and required materials is available here.
The application for the 2022/2023 cycle has closed.
About the Opportunity
These single-year grants are intended to increase the number, diversity, and academic success of junior faculty focusing their research on the health and economic wellbeing of minority elderly populations. The program provides mentorship to AD-RCMAR scientists in multidisciplinary training, launching new lines of research, and tracking and evaluating the success of pilot investigations.
Three early-career investigators will be selected based on:
- Quality of proposed research
- Credentials of investigator
- Investigators that have been funded by other RCMAR centers are discouraged to apply
- Relatedness of the proposed research to the USC AD-RCMAR mission (see information below on the mission of the USC AD-RCMAR)
- Likelihood that the proposed research would lead to subsequent National Institute on Aging (NIA) funded projects.
- NIH FCOI (USC applicants) and diSClose (USC applicants) certified
- USC applicants must also complete their Grants Management Training
The award includes $25,000 in total direct and indirect costs for the 2022/2023 academic year. The application process has closed.
About the USC AD-RCMAR Program
The Minority Aging Health Economics Research Center at USC was established through funding from the National Institutes of Health and aims to increase the number, diversity and academic success of junior faculty focusing their research on the health and economic wellbeing of minority elderly populations. It is part of a network of NIH-funded Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR). The mission of the USC AD-RCMAR is to provide infrastructure and resources to support the academic success of underrepresented minority researchers and to increase the number and diversity of researchers in aging. Dr. Dana Goldman and Dr. Julie Zissimopoulos direct the research center.
Originally launched in 2012 at the Schaeffer Center, the USC AD-RCMAR program has received $6.1 million from the National Institutes of Health to fund RCMAR fellowships. Funding from NIH for this program is supplemented with support from the Price School of Public Policy and the School of Pharmacy, partners in the Schaeffer Center, and the USC Office of Research. Since its launch, the USC AD-RCMAR has funded eighteen junior scientists.
Alumni of the program have successfully won competitive grants and published extensively in the years following the completion of the AD-RCMAR project. For example, among the nine scientists who finished their AD-RCMAR year at least two years ago, seven have received additional funding. Notably, among those who have received additional funding, three scholars received NIH career development awards totaling over $3 million to continue their work focused on minority aging. Alumni of the program have amassed a record of published papers with 133 in peer-reviewed journals and have 12 forthcoming publications.
To see recent research by AD-RCMAR scientists, click here.
The Executive Committee includes: Jennifer Ailshire, Assistant Professor of Gerontology and Sociology; Maria Aranda, Associate Professor of Social Work; Helena Chui, Chair and Professor of Neurology; Eileen Crimmins, AARP Chair in Gerontology; Dana Goldman, Schaeffer Chair and Director, Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics; Julie Zissimopoulos, Associate Professor and Director of Education and Training, Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics.
For questions contact Briana Taylor, brianawh@usc.edu, or call 213-821-7968
For more information about USC’s AD-RCMAR, click here.