Success in this complex endeavor depends heavily on a coherent set of strategies, programs, and budgets that support the interactive research network. The principal investigator (PI), Dr. Ronald G. Tompkins, and the awardee institution, the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, have the overall responsibility for scientific and technical direction as well as administration and overall operations of the multiple-site research program. The PI also insures the development of consensus on study design, uniform treatment methods, uniform research animal models, and pathways that are operative and important to better understand the body's response to injury. The PI insures the timely dissemination of information generated by the program to program participants, the wider scientific community, and the public. At the MGH, a program manager and finance manager support the principal investigator in carrying out this ambitious research program.

Seven core groups provided the foundation for Inflammation and the Host Response to Injury in the original five-year award:

1. Protein Analyses and Cell Biology (Proteomics)
2. Genomics
3. Patient Research
4. Model Validation
5. Information Dissemination and Data Coordination
6. Computational Analysis and Modeling
7. Administration

In the second five-year award, a natural evolution and growth of our Program has resulted in two or our original cores being further subdivided, and one core being funded by other sources.

1. Cell Separation and Sample Preparation
2. Proteomics
3. Genomics
4. Patient Research
5. Information Dissemination and Data Coordination
6. Clinical Biostatistics
7. Data Interpretation
8. Administration

Each group has its own advisory committee and core director(s).

Several considerations guided the selection of program participants in order to provide a sufficient number of key players with both expertise and credibility in the research areas of interest, while including enough proven leaders to implement change. Our participating investigators were chosen because they have proven NIH funding histories (particularly, NIGMS support) in basic research, including trauma and burns.

Additional investigators, who also run successful federally funded research programs and a few investigators with other peer-reviewed sources of funding, were added to the group to provide expertise in areas or technologies not otherwise represented. The group as a whole is heavily weighted at the university professor level appointment, yet there are several young investigators who are actively participating in the core groups and on the steering committee.

Ron Tompkins, M.D., Sc.D. is the Overall Principal Investigator of the research program and serves as the PI of the IDDC, CAM Data Interpretation, and Administration Cores		Grace McDonald-Smith, M.Ed. is the Program Manager of the Program		Shelley F. Turok is the Financial Manager of the Program