Centers of Clinical Research Excellence

NCRR supports grants for the establishment of Centers of Clinical Research Excellence (CCRE) at Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) with affiliated medical schools. The purpose of this program is to augment and strengthen the institutional clinical research capabilities of specific research areas.

The program provides support to recruit senior basic and/or clinical research investigators, who are established investigators with independent research support. These investigators serve as mentors to more junior investigators and for those in junior career development in clinical research. New faculty members, described as junior faculty, receive support to establish their research laboratories, acquire specialized equipment, and support postdoctoral fellows and technical assistants. The program was created in anticipation that the senior faculty would serve as magnet investigators for the recruitment of other research faculty who would complement the specific research area proposed within the specific CCRE.

Ideally, the research area chosen would focus on one or more of the diseases that disproportionately affect the endogenous populations served by the RCMI institution. The long-range goal of the program is to enable the institution to facilitate the development of that institution's clinical research capacity.

The CCRE program is envisioned as complementing the RCMI Clinical Research Infrastructure Initiative. In general, CCRE institutions have one senior investigator serving as the magnet investigator, who establishes the research area into which the junior faculty will be recruited and trained. It is expected that other senior faculty within the RCMI institution will act as mentors to the junior faculty members, sharing their expertise on specific projects for which the junior faculty are responsible. Currently the RCMI Program has three CCRE grantees.

Contact Information

For further information about this program, contact:

Shelia A. McClure, Ph.D.
Director, RCMI Program
Division of Research Infrastructure
National Center for Research Resources
National Institutes of Health
One Democracy Plaza, Room 932
6701 Democracy Boulevard, MSC 4874
Bethesda, Maryland 20892-4874 (20817 for express mail)
Telephone: 301-451-6536
Fax: 301-480-3770
E-mail: McClurSh@mail.nih.gov