Cores
Administrative Core
The Administrative Core provides day-to-day and long-term direction and support for NCARE, whose overarching goal is to ameliorate alcohol use disorders among American Indians and Alaska Native people. Core members implement an integrated management plan to ensure the success of NCARE’s research projects, cores, and academic and community partnerships. They also collaborate with NCARE investigators and staff on the planning, review, and evaluation of all funded activities. They support the implementation of key strategic decisions, research regulatory processes, data sharing plans, and data transfer protocols. Their work is tightly integrated with several committees that keep NCARE aligned with its scientific aims and community mission: the Steering Committee, the Program Advisory Committee, the Working Group, the Data Safety and Monitoring Board, the Publications and Presentations Committee, and the Community Action Board.
Research Methods Core
The Research Methods Core works closely with the investigative team of each research project on study design, sample selection, measurement strategies, data collection, data analysis, and communication of findings. Core members also provide support and mentorship in analytic methods for NCARE Fellows and recipients of pilot project funding. As needed, they can facilitate the simplest possible analyses or apply extremely complex analytic tools, including experimental approaches, to explore novel lines of inquiry. Core members have well-honed skills in communicating analytic results to audiences with varying levels of quantitative training, such as community members, community leaders, health care providers, and health policy makers.
Information Dissemination Core
The Information Dissemination Core uses both traditional and innovative methods to communicate the results of NCARE research projects and provide education on alcohol use disorders and appropriate treatment options. Their audience includes Native individuals, Native communities, and Native organizations, as well as the health care providers and government organizations that serve them. Core members are committed to supporting well-informed life choices and responding to urgent community needs by disseminating accurate information on alcohol use disorders and the most effective ways to treat them.
Pilot Project Core
The Pilot Project Core implements one of NCARE’s central strategies: to nurture innovative research on health inequities due to alcohol use disorders among American Indians and Alaska Native people. Its concerns encompass prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and consequences across the lifespan. It will support a total of 9 pilot projects during the 5 years of NCARE funding, with 1 project in the first year and 2 in each successive year. This approach is designed to foster an ecosystem of innovative research by providing centralized services to early stage investigators across the nation. Pilot funding will seed emerging research areas, explore new methodologies, and pursue regional and national collaborations with the potential to evolve into independently funded research or demonstration projects.