MarkVCID is comprised of seven project sites (Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine [JHU]; Rush Medical Center/Illinois Institute of Technology [Rush/IIT]; Universities of California San Francisco, Davis, and Los Angeles [UC]; University of Kentucky [UKy]; University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center [UNM]; University of Southern California [USC]; and the Cohorts for Heart and Aging Research in Genomic Epidemiology [CHARGE] consortium) and a central coordinating center (Massachusetts General Hospital [MGH]) working with the National Institute of Neurologic Diseases and Stroke (NINDS) and National Institute on Aging (NIA) under cooperative agreements. Consortium decision-making is performed by the MarkVCID Steering Committee, comprised of the contact principal investigator from each of the seven project sites, principal investigator and leads of the Coordinating Center (CC) Administrative and Data Cores, and NIH leadership (CC and NIH participants are nonvoting). A series of MarkVCID subcommittees, comprised of representatives with specialized expertise from the project sites and CC, provide recommendations to the Steering Committee for review and approval. Further input to MarkVCID decisions is provided by an External Advisory Committee selected by NIH and interested non-governmental organizations.
Full lists of the membership of MarkVCID committees and subcommittees are in Supplemental Table 1. Methods reported here for MarkVCID participant enrollment were devised by the Protocol and Operations Standardization Subcommittee, consisting of investigators and administrative personnel with expertise in multicenter patient-based research studies particularly in the areas of stroke, cognitive impairment, and biomarkers. Elements of the MarkVCID clinical evaluation, cognitive testing, and structured instruments were selected by the Clinical and Physiologic Data and Cognitive Assessments Subcommittee, consisting of investigators with cognitive research expertise across areas of neurology, geriatric psychiatry, neuropsychology, and biostatistics. Methods for collection and handling of fluid samples and instrumental validation of fluid sample biomarkers were devised by the Fluid-Based Biomarkers Subcommittee, composed of investigators performing fluid biomarker research. All procedures shown below were adopted by consensus of the proposing subcommittees and the full Steering Committee. Prospective enrollment of participants and acquisition of blood samples occur at six MarkVCID sites: JHU, UC, UKy, UNM, USC, and University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio (UTHSCA, operating as part of CHARGE). Acquisition of CSF samples occur at JHU, UTHSCA, UKy, UNM, and UC. Rush/IIT, University of California Davis, and other CHARGE sites additionally contribute data and fluid samples from previously enrolled research study participants.
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