COMPONENTS OF SCDEC DERC

The interdisciplinary SCDEC DERC involves faculty members distributed among departments at UCLA and UCSD/Salk. These departments include Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Surgery, Genetics, Molecular Pharmacology, Microbiology, Opthamology, Neurology, Pathology, Physiology, reflecting the diversity of talents needed to address diabetes and its complications. The DERC is organized into four components: Administrative, Biomedical Research, Biomedical CORE, and Pilot and Feasibility (Figure 1).

1. The Administrative Component is under the direction of Willa Hsueh, MD, Center Director; Jerrold Olefsky, MD, Associate Director of Research; Jerome Rotter, MD, Associate Director, Cedars, and Chair, Internal Advisory Committee, Pamela Mellon, PhD, Associate Director of CORE Support Facilities; Pinchas Cohen, MD, Associate Director, Pilot and Feasibility Program. This group comprises the Center Executive Committee, which focuses on issues related to membership and interests of each research base, CORE activities, identification and support of young faculty, activities related to academic enrichment, and distribution and maximum utilization of DERC support. The Executive Committee is responsible for major decisions regarding DERC operations. The administrative component is directly responsible for 1) maintaining communication between DERC members, the Executive Committee and CORES, 2) planning the annual DERC retreat, 3) interaction of the DERC with the Internal and External Advisory Committees, 4) management of DERC funds, 5) scheduling academic enrichment activities, 6) preparing renewals and other reports to the NIH, and 7) providing CORES with any needed administrative assistance.
    
2. The Biomedical Research Component under the leadership of Dr. Olefsky is the heart of the DERC and consists of six bases with members whose research relates to the focus of that base. The Biomedical Research Component Committee (BRCC) is comprised of the Research Base leaders: Barry Forman, Nuclear Receptor; Susan Taylor, Cell Signaling; Jerrold Olefsky, Metabolism; Aldon Lusis, Macrovascular Complications; Roland Blantz, Microvascular Complications; Mark Montminy, Islet Cell. The BRCC will meet on a semiannual basis (more often as necessary) and is responsible for maintaining membership, recruiting new members, tracking members with regard to career achievements or changes, polling members and preparing reports for the semi-annual DERC newsletter. The BRCC will work closely with the Administrative CORE to achieve these goals.
    
3. The Biomedical CORE Support Component is under the leadership of Dr. Mellon, who chairs the CORE Committee of the DERC. The CORE Committee is comprised of all CORE directors and some of the co-directors and includes: Transgenic and Knockout Mouse CORE, Pamela Mellon; Human Genetics CORE, Jerome Rotter and Leslie Raffel; Transcriptional Genomics CORE, Christopher Glass; Mouse Phenotyping CORE, Willa Hsueh and Alan Collins; Ida Chen, as well as Administrative Assistants, Ms. Janie Teran and Mr. Alfonso Orozco. This committee is ultimately responsible for efficient and timely provisions of services, usage prioritization, establishment of new assays or technologies, interactions amongst the COREs themselves and between the COREs and DERC members, and provisions of biannual reports to the Executive Committee and for the DERC newsletter. The CORE Committee will teleconference every two months and meet at the DERC annual retreat.
    
4. The Pilot and Feasibility Component is directed by Dr. Cohen. The P and F Committee consists of Leslie Raffel, Robert Henry and Pamela Mellon, providing a broad base of clinical and basic expertise for review of P and F proposals. In conjunction with the Executive Committee, they are responsible for selecting and maintaining communication with the External Review Committee, which will also serve as the DERC External Advisory Committee and will consist of at least three nationally known scientists in diabetes and its complications. In addition, they will identify and maintain lists of junior faculty, coordinate the P and F review process and presentations by awardees, and track P and F recipients. The P and F Committee works closely with the Administrative Component.