The Leadership/Administrative Core (LAC) is responsible for the organizational, communication, budgetary, and regulatory functions of the Pepper Center.
Leadership: Jen Brach, PT, FAPTA, Steven M. Handler, MD, PhD, CMD
Working Groups: The LAC supports several working groups to enhance communication among Pepper investigators, integrate core expertise around areas of scientific focus, and foster innovative collaborative efforts. Current working groups include:
- Long-term Care Workgroup (Nace, CPOC)
- Active in COVID-19 Research
- Neuroimaging Workgroup (Rosano, ISC)
- Leadership Skills Workgroup (Strotmeyer, Wagner, Marron, REC)
- Muscle Biology and Biomarkers Workgroup (Forman, Finkel, Newman, BMAC)
- Gate Working Group (Rosso, Brach, Baillargeon)
LAC Collaboration: The LAC has fostered and coordinated the research efforts of over 80 Pepper investigators from multiple venues including the School of Medicine, Public Health, Bioengineering, Rehabilitation Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Psychiatry, Neurology, Informatics and Community Health. The LAC insures that the cores and core leaders of the Research Career Development KL2, Clinical and Population Outcomes, Integrative Systems, Data Management, Analysis and Informatics, and Pilot/Exploratory Studies cores coordinate and collaborate with each other.
The LAC receives valuable input and direction from 4 advisory groups including 1) the External Advisory Committee (national experts), 2) the Institutional Advisory Board (multidisciplinary group of experts on aging from the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC), 3) the Community Advisory Board (members from local health care agencies, IRB, local media, the registry and local leaders) and 4) the REC Advisory Committee (internal and external experts).