Administrative Core

Administrative Core Abstract The Administrative Core will provide an organizational foundation for all activities of the Center for Solutions for ME/CFS (CfS for ME/CFS) by providing scientific oversight, infrastructure for regulatory and fiscal compliance, programs for career development, and lines for communication among investigators, community partners, other CRCs, the DMCC, and the NIH. The Core is led by W. Ian Lipkin, a physician-scientist with experience in directing large multi-institutional, inter-disciplinary programs that include basic and translational research components, and Dana March, an epidemiologist with 18 years of project and program management experience at Columbia and NIMH, and PI for Epidemiological Analysis at the Chronic Fatigue Initiative. Lipkin and March report to an Internal Executive Committee comprised of Project PIs and a rotating group of clinical investigators; a Scientific Advisory Board comprised of external investigators with subject matter expertise that includes representatives from the CDC, NIH, Solve ME/CFS Initiative, and #MEAction; and a Community Advisory Committee comprised of center investigators, and representatives from the Solve ME/CFS Initiative, #MEAction, and The Microbe Discovery Project, as well as other community representatives. The Core will coordinate Committee and Advisory Board video and teleconferences as well as an annual in- person meeting of key personnel including members of the Internal and Community Committees and Scientific Advisory Board. It will foster career development through ME/CFScience Now! videoconferences, a pipeline program focused on recruitment of students to complete summer internships, theses, dissertations, and other research projects on ME/CFS with CRC investigators; a digital grand rounds, ME/CFS Gr@ndRounds; and support for CRC investigators to present work at national and international conferences. We will create a website dedicated to community engagement and dissemination of research findings from the CfS for ME/CFS and other CRCs. We will also actively engage the ME/CFS community through social media channels, including Twitter (@CfSforMECFS), Facebook, and Instagram (see Project 3).