Howard University Research Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities

OVERALL PROJECT ABSTRACT The Howard University Research Centers in Minority Institutions (HU RCMI) program has a continuing interest in developing a better understanding of the unique parameters associated with minority health and resolving mechanisms of health disparities which is a critical component of Howard’s institutional research mission and is an abiding commitment to the communities it serves. This renewal application recognizes the critical role of research in the implementation of Howard’s commitment to further serve its surrounding communities and will enhance Howard’s capacity for basic biomedical, population science, and clinical research by improving the quality of scientific inquiry through partnerships with community-based organizations and by expanding the cadre of productive investigators at Howard. To accomplish these goals, the HU RCMI will continue its investigator development initiative, which has the capacity to fast-track junior faculty and early-stage investigators to the level of successful and productive scientists. We will also provide a selection of state-of- the-art infrastructure resources (computational biology & bioinformatics, health/clinical informatics, proteomics, and imaging) – to support faculty research efforts and incorporate enhanced support for data science efforts. These initiatives and resources will be combined with a continuation of long-term relationships with surrounding community-based organizations that serve as conduits to ensure that the needs and interests of the community are represented in the university’s research agenda. These community connections also serve as a source of participants in Howard’s human subjects research and as conduits for disseminating to the community results obtained from HU research projects. Moreover, the HU RCMI will support three rigorous research projects addressing health disparities experienced by African Americans in the areas of ischemic stroke, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy among black women, and urinary incontinence experienced by African American and Hispanic women living in the Washington, DC area. These three research projects represent efforts in the thematic areas of basic biomedical, population science, and clinical research, respectively. Additionally, the HU RCMI Program in partnership with the Department of Anatomy and Office of the Provost will recruit to Howard a senior faculty-level data science investigator whose research experience is primarily in biomedical and neuroscience data with an emphasis on minority health and health disparities. The entire HU RCMI program and each of its components will be subjected to annual evaluation by an outside and independent evaluator. The proposed HU RCMI program activities will enable Howard to reach and maintain a critical level of minority health and health disparities research.