PROJECT SUMMARY The Administrative Core A will be responsible for the planning, development, coordination, and overall administration of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) W ellstone MD CRC focused on Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy (FSHD). Center leadership will continue under Dr. Charles Emerson at UMMS, Dr. Louis Kunkel at Children's Boston, and Kathryn Wagner at Kennedy Krieger, all highly experienced research administrators and accomplished scientists. The administrative unit for Core A will be located at UMMS, which has substantial resources, personnel and experience for management of a P50 Center. Core A will be the administrative hub to manage all Center resources and communications and carry out policies and procedures that establish an energized environment to enable effective communication and collaboration among all the Center constituents, including investigators, trainees, FSHD patients and advocacy groups, industry partners, NIH and the public. The Center will promote its mission through its website, which disseminates information on Center activities, biomaterials and research, and through its partnership with patient advocacy groups, particularly the FSH Society, which co-sponsors FSHD Research W orkshops and Researcher-Patient Networking meetings to engage patients, researchers, trainees and NIH in our Center mission. Through Core A, the Center will promote the distribution of muscle cell lines from its W ellstone FSHD Cell Repository as a unique FSHD bio-resource. Internal committees will enable Center leadership, investigators and trainees to effectively utilize resources, organize internal dataflow and communications, and receive feedback on Center management, research progress and training. Regularly- scheduled web conference meetings will focus on trainee and PI data sharing and research planning, and an annual W ellstone Center Retreat at UMMS will bring investigators and trainees face-to-face with a Center Advisory Committee (CAC) and NIH program leaders to review research progress, set goals and align Center activities with the NIH W ellstone Center Network.