Editor’s note: Updated for the 2024/2025 application cycle.
The Schaeffer Center, through the USC Alzheimer’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease Related Dementias Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (USC AD/ADRD 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.
Who Should Apply:
We invite applications from scholars in the early stages of their research careers, including postdoctoral fellows, tenure-track, and research-track faculty, from academic and research institutions. We encourage both USC and non-USC applicants who are interested in conducting research on the health and economic wellbeing of minority elder populations, with a specific focus on cognition and/or Alzheimer’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease related dementias. We particularly encourage applications from new investigators who are underrepresented in their respective fields.
Three early career investigators, referred to as ‘RCMAR Scientists,’ will be selected based on the following criteria:
- Quality of proposed research
- Credentials of the investigator
- Relevance of proposed research to the USC AD/ADRD RCMAR mission
- Likelihood that proposed research will lead to subsequent National Institute on Aging (NIA) proposal
Note: Investigators who have been funded by other RCMAR centers should contact us before applying; USC applicants must complete their Grants Management Training and certify NIH Financial Conflict of Interest (FCOI) and Disclosure.
The award includes $40,000 in total direct and indirect costs for the 2024/2025 academic year. A letter of intent (LOI) and CV are due by COB Friday, February 16, 2024.
About USC AD/ADRD RCMAR:
The USC AD/ADRD RCMAR has successfully offered research and career mentorship, pilot award funding, one-on-one data and programming consulting, and other training and educational programming to junior investigators conducting research on minority aging and AD/ADRD. We bring a distinct capacity for integrating theories and tools from myriad disciplines, including but not limited to economics, sociology, and gerontology, using large, complex datasets. We apply rigorous panel data and quasi-experimental methods to generate innovative AD/ADRD disparities research. Our interdisciplinary faculty has the support and expertise to advance research in our focus area: pathways through which social, behavioral, environmental and economic factors, as well as policies and health systems, affect disparities in the risk of AD/ADRD and impact the health, healthcare, and economic outcomes of people living with dementia. For the past 11+ years we have continued to build on our successful history and bring together the infrastructure, leadership, interdisciplinary expertise and resources.
To see recent research by USC AD/ADRD RCMAR scientists, click here.
Leadership: Julie Zissimopoulos (MPI), Professor, USC Sol Price School of Public Policy; Jennifer Ailshire (MPI), Associate Professor, USC Gerontology and Sociology; Emma Aguila (MPI), Associate Professor, USC Sol Price School of Public of Policy; Maria Aranda, Professor, USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work; Karen Lincoln, Professor, UCI Environmental and Occupational Health; Mireille Jacobson, Associate Professor, USC Gerontology Chair and Professor of Neurology; Eileen Crimmins, University Professor, USC Gerontology and Director, USC/UCLA Center on Biodemography and Population Health
For questions contact Briana Taylor, brianawh@usc.edu, or call 213-821-7968
For more information about USC’s AD/ADRD RCMAR click here.