# Administrative Core

> **NIH NIH U19** · NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $342,282

## Abstract

ADMINISTRATIVE CORE – ABSTRACT
To support the mission of the Advancing Cancer Control Equity Research Through Transformative Solutions in
Patient Navigation (ACCERT PN) Center as a vibrant part of the U19 ACCERT Cooperative Network, the
Administrative Core (AC) will provide organizational, administrative, research, and community engagement
leadership to foster transformative research focused on innovative patient navigation strategies to mitigate
cancer health inequities in Chicago’s Black, Latinx, and low-income Chinese communities, and build capacity,
foster growth, and drive community engagement both within the ACCERT PN Center and across the ACCERT
ecosystem as a member of the cooperative network. As the administrative hub of the ACCERT PN Center, the
AC will helm infrastructure development, fiscal management, resource allocation, and communications at
Northwestern University and among the ACCERT PN Center’s academic and community partners. The AC is
led by Melissa Simon, MD and Betina Yanez, PhD who have extensive administrative experience leading large-
scale cancer research collaborations and community-engaged partnerships and consortiums. The AC will
coordinate ACCERT PN processes, activities, advisory boards, and other structures that will provide scientific
and administrative support and evaluation across the ACCERT PN Projects and Cores. The AC will provide
community engagement leadership to foster inclusive team environments that enhance collaboration with
communities impacted by cancer health inequities, ensuring community participation in the design,
operationalization, implementation, and dissemination of all ACCERT PN research activities. Our assembled
Community Advisory Board (CAB) of community and clinical partners is based on our longstanding and deep
ties with the communities the ACCERT PN Center will serve. To build and grow the ACCERT PN Center, we will
foster capacity building and engagement with community partners and new investigators, leveraging our team’s
extensive networks, skills building resources, and established participatory processes, while adding novel
initiatives to strengthen the Center’s culture of inclusive excellence. The AC will oversee successful operations
of the ACCERT PN Center through the following Specific Aims. Aim 1: Provide centralized leadership of the
ACCERT PN Center and budgetary and administrative management and oversight of all ACCERT PN Center
activities. Aim 2: Collaborate on consortium-wide activities, including Collaborative Pilot Projects, through
interactions with the ACCERT Coordination Center. Aim 3: Identify resources, develop processes, and conduct
programs for capacity building and growth. Aim 4: Foster community partner engagement within the Center
through engagement and coordination of the ACCERT PN Center’s Community Advisory Board, and through
conflict resolution, technical assistance, evaluation of community engagement processes, and dissemination.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10929044
- **Project number:** 1U19CA291404-01
- **Recipient organization:** NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** MELISSA A. SIMON
- **Activity code:** U19 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $342,282
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-06 → 2029-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10929044

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10929044, Administrative Core (1U19CA291404-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10929044. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*