PROJECT SUMMARY-RESEARCH SERVICES CORE. The goal of the Mississippi Center for Clinical and Translational Research (MCCTR) Research Services Core (RSC) is to train and assist investigators in research development and implementation including regulatory management, responsible conduct of research, effective recruitment and retention, and research compliance. The RSC will provide a broad range of clinical, epidemiologic, and population health expertise to investigators from the MCCTR Clinical and Translational Research Scholars (CTRS) Program and Pilot Projects Program (PPP) to facilitate growth in clinical and translational (C/T) and population health research with an emphasis on: racial/ethnic health disparities, rural health, and telehealth. To facilitate implementation of C/T research to improve the lives of Mississippians, the RSC will develop a new Telehealth subcore to reach rural areas of the state, which have high rates of cardiometabolic diseases and worse health outcomes. In collaboration with the Community Engagement and Outreach (CEO) Core, the RSC will also leverage new state networks including the Mississippi State Department of Health and Mississippi State Extension Services to expand the reach of these important clinical programs. During MCCTR Phase II, the RSC will expand use of electronic health data by partner institutions through greater use of the UMMC Research Data Warehouse and Patient Cohort Explorer, which will allow investigators to use “real world” data to explore a variety of health indicators and outcomes. The RSC will also facilitate broader early career investigator involvement in large epidemiologic studies including the Jackson Heart Study, the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study, and the Risk Underlying Rural Areas Longitudinal (RURAL) Study through creation of a new Cohort Study Navigator position. The RSC will work closely with all of the cores but early interactions with the Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Research Design (BERD) Core with each MCCTR investigator will optimize chances of successful project design and completion. UMMC will serve as the “hub” for clinical trials, and the RSC will expand use of the UMMC Clinical Research and Trials Unit through the RSC Clinical Research Coordinators. The RSC will streamline the clinical trial process for MCCTR investigators and assist with participant recruitment and retention of a diverse participant population by the partner institutions. The RSC will also help expand collaborations between the MCCTR partner institutions as well as other CTRs/CTSAs including the Mayo Clinic Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCaTS), the University of Alabama Birmingham Center for Clinical and Translational Science (UAB CCTS), the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science (LACaTS), and the Northwestern University Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (NUCATS). These collaborative networks will provide unique opportunities for larger scale inves...