7.5.d. Processes of the P/ESC: Proposed Core Services and/or Activities: 7.5.d.(1) Introduction: The primary purposes of this core are the identification and development of pilot studies from investigators who can advance the field of frailty research towards knowledge essential for translation to prevention and interventions, based on OAIC goals; selection of pilot studies for funding; setting of goals and benchmarks for success; coordinating with other Cores to ensure full utilization of resources; provision of mentorship during the translation and development and implementation of the project, and the provision of guidance to awardees to guide their development of subsequent proposals that will lead to intervention studies. Both small and regular scope pilots will be funded. The Donabedian Model (1) for characterizing structures, processes and outcomes, as applied to this Core in Table 1, serves as the internal benchmarks for characterizing the resources, functions and goals of this P/ES Core. This section describes the latter two, processes and outcomes, and benchmarks for the success of this Core. 7.5.d. (2) Goals for selection of all Pilot/Exploratory Studies: As described above and in Section 2 and the LAC proposal, this OAIC has strategically identified, each year, the goals for both the next stages of scientific investigation that should be addressed to advance the field of frailty research and intervention development, and the methodologic challenges that need to be overcome to accomplish this. In general, the Resource Cores address the methodologic challenges and provide essential infrastructure for the scientific investigation that is needed, while the P/ES Core supports studies that will advance our scientific knowledge towards development of effective interventions. In the next five years, consistent with OAIC goals, pilot studies will primarily be focused on evaluation of mechanisms underlying frailty and of potential treatments or targeting strategies (see pilot study proposals that follow). The preliminary data obtained through a pilot study provides the basis for the investigator to obtain external funding for the next stages of research.