Leadership and Administrative Core Overview

The ASCENT Leadership and Administrative Core (LAC) provides strategic direction and operational support to the ASCENT Consortium, helping ASCENT achieve its overall goal of building a nationwide scientific workforce focused on improving care for persons with serious illness across the lifespan and those who care for them. LAC integrates the activities of all ASCENT Research Cores and programs to ensure effectiveness and efficiency, and outputs greater than the sum of its individual parts.

LAC's work includes coordinating governance across ASCENT components, supporting the development of high-quality palliative care research methodologies, fiscal oversight, communication with NIH Program and Scientific Officers and fostering engagement with researchers, partners, and policy makers to ensure that research is relevant and actionable.

Core Goals

• Lead and integrate ASCENT Consortium components
  Ensure effective governance, administration, and coordination across all ASCENT programs and Cores.
• Support the generation of high-quality palliative care research
  Promote innovative research and methodologies that address the needs of people with serious illness across the lifespan and those who care for them.
• Build and sustain infrastructure for research and engagement
  Enable the palliative care community to conduct rigorous research and implement strategies to increase access to ASCENT resources and activities.
• Advance dissemination of new knowledge
  Provide infrastructure to translate and share research findings in practice settings, the broader research community, and policy makers to improve palliative care delivery.

Operational Structure

To achieve these goals, the LAC coordinates five integrated hubs:

• Administration, Regulatory, and Finance
• Scientific Consultation & Research Resources
• Grants Programs and Training
• Lifespan
• Health Disparities Research and Community Engagement

Each hub is led by experienced investigators and operational experts who collaborate to ensure the success of the ASCENT Consortium and its mission to improve palliative care for all populations.