RCMI@Morgan: Center for Urban Health Disparities Research and Innovation

PROJECT SUMMARY– Overall During the current grant cycle, RCMI@Morgan has significantly contributed to advancing the science of health disparities. In the next 5 years, our overarching goal is to develop a more robust biomedical research ecosystem to foster innovative biomedical, socio-behavioral and clinical research aimed at improving minority health and reducing or eliminating health disparities in urban communities. This goal will be achieved through five specific aims: 1) Strengthen the capacity of MSU to conduct innovative biomedical, socio-behavioral and clinical research addressing health disparities issues of concern to urban communities; by: (i) developing and implementing mechanisms and processes to enhance health disparities research; (ii) hiring a senior biomedical scientist to strengthen the biomedical research ecosystem; (iii) supporting three innovative research projects designed to address health disparity diseases that disproportionally affect minorities and underserved communities; and (iv) enhancing the program website to foster effective communication. 2) Strengthen the biomedical research ecosystem to further support innovative research on health disparities issues of concern to urban communities; by: (1) creating a robust research ecosystem that fosters multidisciplinary collaborations and biomedical research convergence of many disciplines; (ii) strengthening the Research Capacity Core and improving its management to foster sustainability. 3) Create opportunities for professional development and career enhancement of early stage investigators; by: (i) leveraging the Investigator Development Core (IDC) to create a robust pilot project program that helps ESIs conduct innovative, hypothesis- driven research and gather the preliminary data needed to develop and submit stronger proposals (R-type) for competitive grants from NIH or other agencies; (ii) Implementing specific career development activities to facilitate the transition of ESIs to biomedical research independence. 4) Foster opportunities for translational research; by: (i) leveraging the Community Engagement Core to build sustainable relationships with community- based organizations; (ii) promoting community-academic partnerships to address urban health disparities issues; (III) fostering community participation in biomedical research, and full engagement in research development and implementation; and (iv) disseminating research findings to improve minority health; and (v) fostering strong partnerships to enhance the biomedical research environment and maximize productivity. 5) Perform a comprehensive evaluation of all the strategic activities of the Center; by: (i) Collecting and analyzing data on all programmatic activities of the Center based on the logic model that has been developed to guide the Center evaluation; (ii) conducting both formative and summative evaluations of major components of the Center; (iii) documenting successes and identifying areas of improvement; and assessing the overall impacts of the Center on the science of health disparities and the development of biomedical workforce.