RCMAR II
Directors Core Conference Call
July 12 2006, 3 – 4 p.m. EST
Dial-in: 1 (888) 387-8686; Conference Room # 9968178
APPROVED MINUTES
Attendees:
Rafael Lantigua, Peter Lichtenberg, Carol Mangione, Nelson Peralta, Sid Stahl,
Jeanne Teresi, and Barbara Tilley
Absent:
James Jackson, Spero Manson, and Eliseo Pérez-Stable
Chair:
Janet Frank
Recorder:
Pamela Jackson-McCall
Old Business
I.
Review and approval of June Minutes
The minutes of the June conference call were approved with minor corrections.
II.
2006 GSA
a. Symposia update
The symposium has been unofficially approved for the 2006 GSA meeting.
Unfortunately, Spero’s recommendation for the discussant, Kelly Acton, MD,
MPH, FACP, has declined due to a prior engagement. Dr. Acton suggested Bruce
Fink as an alternative representative from the Indian Health Services (IHS). Dr.
Fink is the medical director for the Indian Health Services. He is a very dynamic
speaker, but his comments will be very focused on his work in the IHS.
The discussant should be well rounded in minority aging research, bringing
together the overarching key issues amongst the three presenters. This would
include critiquing the pros/cons, highpoints, and concerns of the presentations.
Carol commented that the discussant should be able to bring into context what is
known and not known about minority health disparities and community
participative research.
Janet asked the Directors if they would like to consider Dr. Acton’s
recommendation or move forward with Rafael’s suggestion of Sonia Angell, MD,
MPH. Dr. Angell is the Director of the New York Department of Health and
Mental Hygene, Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Control program. She is
currently working with Commissioner Tom Freeling in implementing CBPR
programs in the community. They have projects in Brooklyn, Bronx, and lower
Manhattan that work with community groups to improve relations with the City of
New York, the family medical centers, and community-based organizations.
Carol suggested Nina Wallerstein, MPH, DrPH, from Arizona who is Professor
and Director of the Masters in Public Health Program in the Department of
Family and Community Medicine at the University of New Mexico School of
Medicine. Dr. Wallerstein has been developing participatory research
methodologies and empowerment intervention research since the early 1980s,
with her latest co-edited book covering these fields, Community-Based
Participatory Research for Health. She has worked both in North American
research and Latin American contexts. Another suggestion was Barbara Israel. Dr.
Israel is a Professor in the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education
at the University of Michigan. Dr. Israel has extensive experience conducting
community-based participatory research in collaboration with partners in diverse
ethnic communities.
The Directors agreed to invite Nina Wallerstein as the new discussant. The CC
will invite her immediately.
b. Other updates

The Coordinating Center will have a small amount of carry forward funds
from the conference grant. Janet proposed that the CC utilize this money
to support one person from each Center to attend the GSA meeting and
pre-conference workshop. This will in turn allow each Center to send one
additional Scholar to the 2007 Annual Meeting if the Center Directors
agreed to use their funds for junior investigators for the 2007 meeting.

In reviewing the deliverables for the CC, a “Best Practices Guide” for
minority faculty mentoring was promised. The Coordinating Center
would like to use its page in the Minority Sessions Booklet to publish a
one-page overview on the key issues of minority mentoring. In addition,
an annotated bibliography of an updated reference list of minority junior
faculty mentoring will be included as well. This will be another vehicle to
advertise the RCMAR website and the link to the reference list. The
overview will be sent to the Directors for their review and comments
within the next couple of weeks.
c. Pre-Conference Workshop
A conference call will be scheduled for the planning of the preconference program details. Those involved on the call will be Carol,
Spero, Sid, Janet, and Rafael.
III.
RCMAR Scholar Survey update
Although the deadline to get the survey information back to the CC is Monday, July 17,
Janet requested a brief update from each Center on its progress.
Rafael reported that CALME sent another email to all their Scholars asking them for their
cooperation, in answering the survey. Peter reported that MCUAAAR has hired someone
to place follow-up calls to their past Scholars and does not think that they will be able to
meet the 7/17/06 deadline. MUSC will need additional time as well.
Sid stated that in order for this information to be utilized in the external evaluation, the
survey results need to be submitted by July 31, 2006.
Investigator Development Core Issues
I.
Open for discussion (All)
Peter was pleased to report that MCUAAAR had another successful Summer Workshop
in June with about 27 attendees.
Carol announced that CHIME will be hosting another one-day retreat scheduled for
August 18th. This retreat will be in conjunction with the external advisory board of their
EXPORT Center.
Jeanne reported that CALME has selected their new Scholars for next year. One Scholar
was selected from The Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging (CITRA).
Research will be an interesting mixture of qualitative and quantitative findings. The
others are from the School of Public Health at Columbia.
In addition, Jeanne reported that the Collaborative Research Project Investigators are is
working very well together and have drafted a paper that Barbara is currently reviewing.
When completed, they will try to submit the article to Medical Care. Barbara concurred
with Jeanne’s comments and believes that the group as a whole is growing and learning
much from this experience. With RCMAR III in mind, Janet asked if this type of activity
was one that the Directors would like to include. All agreed that this collaborative
activity clearly demonstrates the ability to build business infrastructure within the
research field.
Carol mentioned that CHIME was in the process of selecting their Pilot Awardees. They
have revised their selection committee to include a community mentor in addition to the
existing academic and methodological mentors. This will allow the community
perspective to have some input during the selection process.
New Business
I.
Theme – 2007 Annual Investigators Meeting
The Annual Meeting is scheduled for February 12-13, 2007 in Los Angeles. The
Director’s dinner will be held Sunday, February 11th. CHIME will host this meeting, and
Janet asked for the Director’s input on particular themes for the meeting. Carol
expressed that she would like input from the Centers who have hosted the meeting in the
past. She would like to get a sense of what activities “energized” the group and what they
thought would make this a memorable educational and networking event. Sid suggested
including cutting edge research. Barbara wants to ensure that the annual meeting remains
an update of what research and other activities are happening at the different RCMAR
sites, and it does not evolve into a scientific meeting where mainly those outside of
RCMAR are presenting.
II.
Open
Janet announced the Donald W. Reynolds Faculty Development to Advance Geriatric
Education Program (FD-AGE) has scholarships available to the annual UCLA Intensive
Course in Geriatric Medicine and Board Review which will be held September 13-16,
2006 in Marina del Rey. The eligibility criteria for these scholarships are as follows:
1. Current faculty appointment in a medical training program
2. Not much knowledge about Geriatric Medicine
3. Be able to demonstrate a clear commitment to a career in teaching and
clinical care
4. Have a valid U.S. medical license
The CC will email the information to the Directors regarding the Intensive Course and
the available scholarships.
Next Conference Call
Wednesday, August 9, 2006, 3:00 – 4:00 pm EST