Mission
The Center for Aging in Diverse Communities (CADC) was established at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) in 1997. CADC is one of six national Centers funded by the Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) program by the National Institute on Aging (NIA), National Institutes of Health.
The mission of the center is to decrease ethnic and racial disparities in health by focusing attention on healthy aging among older minority populations.
The center addresses this mission by serving as a catalyst for investigators conducting research that focuses on African American, Latino, Asian, and sexual and gender minority (SGM) older adults. We provide funding for new pilot studies and mentor minority researchers, thereby increasing the number of researchers dedicated to improving the health of ethnically diverse older adults. We also focus on improving research methods and measures for diverse populations, as well as on the recruitment and retention of minorities in research projects.
The center participates in community outreach and continues to sustain and expand its partnerships with diverse communities of color in the San Francisco Bay Area, working to achieve mutual trust and respect between community-based organizations and UCSF. We collaborate with community-based organizations to identify areas of interest and priorities, facilitate communication between research institutions, individuals and organizations and thus ensure that our research is responsive to the needs of older minority individuals.
Structure
The center is composed of four separate but integrated units: Administrative Core, Research Education Component, Analysis Core, and Community Liaison and Recruitment Core.
- Administrative Core: The AC provides rigorous scientific leadership and coordination of Center activities, stimulating synergistic cross-core communication and activities among CADC faculty, CADC Scientists, other NIA-funded Centers, and the external scientific and local communities. The AC ensures CADC’s compliance with all reporting requirements, conducts recruitment of CADC Scientists, oversees issuance of the call for pilot study grants and review of applications, and maintains relations with the External Advisory Board.
- Research Education Component: The REC provides a structured environment and program to foster the career development of under-represented researchers conducting research on minority aging and health disparities. The REC includes a unique health disparities and minority aging research education program, an individualized CADC Scholar continual mentoring program, pilot study funding for at least three pilot studies per year focused on minority aging issues, a strategic plan to diversify and increase the research workforce
conducting aging research, and a systematic evaluation of these research education and career development efforts. - Analysis Core: The AnC performs three functions: 1) identifies, distributes, creates and adapts culturally informed and scientifically valid self-report measures for health disparities research; 2) disseminates methodological resources to advance measurement and implementation science among diverse older adults; and 3) provides mentoring and statistical consultations on secondary data analyses to identify pathways that produce health disparities and suggest interventions to ameliorate them.
- Community Liaison and Recruitment Core: The CLRC works with the REC to provide community engagement and
recruitment support to CADC Scientists and mentors them on effective recruitment and retention methods for enhancing participation of diverse populations in aging research. The CLRC conducts research to generate new knowledge on optimal recruitment and retention techniques among minority populations and disseminates these findings to the broader scientific community. The CLRC promotes the benefits of participation in clinical research among local diverse communities and fosters excellent academic-community relations to facilitate community
engagement in UCSF aging research.