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Office of Minority Health and Research

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OMHR Mission Statement
The Office of Minority Health and Research (OMHR) plans, coordinates and directs research and research training programs to attract, retain and develop future minority neuroscience health and research professionals. The office also develops and implements long-term strategies to reduce health disparities in populations that are historically at increased risk for diseases and disorders of the nervous system.

NINDS Five-year Strategic Plan on Minority Health Disparities

Specialized Center Cooperative Agreements (U54)

Research Support

National Research Service Awards

Individual Research Awards

Education Projects

NIH Policy on Reporting Race and Ethnicity Data

Links to Professional Societies

Staff Contacts

Alfred W. Gordon, Ph.D.
Associate Director for Minority Health and Research
Director, Office of Minority Health and Research
Phone: (301) 496-3102
e-mail: ag38x@nih.gov

Richard Benson, MD., Ph.D.
Program Director, Office of Minority Health and Research
Phone: (301) 496-3102
e-mail: bensonric@nih.gov

Michelle Jones-London, Ph.D.
Program Director, OMHR, OD, NINDS
jonesmiche@ninds.nih.gov

Mailing Address and Telephone Numbers

Office of Minority Health and Research
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
6001 Executive Boulevard, Suite 2149, MSC 9535
Bethesda, MD 20892-9535 (for courier: Rockville, MD 20852)
Telephone: 301-496-3102
Fax: 301-594-5929

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U54 Purpose and Eligibility

The Specialized Center Cooperative Agreements are jointly funded by:
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
The National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD)
The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

The purpose of the Specialized Center Coorperative Agreements (U54) is to augment and strengthen the research capabilities of faculty, students, and fellows at minority institutions by supporting the development of new, and/or the enhancement of ongoing, basic and clinical neuroscience research projects and programs. There are four programmatic goals:
  • To assist researchers employed at minority institutions in developing state-of-the-art neuroscience research programs.
  • To assist minority neuroscience researchers in creating more opportunities for effective and substantial research collaborations and professional networking with NIH and NSF grantees from research-intensive institutions.
  • To increase and maintain a vigorous and stimulating academic and intellectual milieu for addressing the training and health needs of communities served by minority institutions.
  • To provide support for pilot research needed to show the skills and abilities of investigators by obtaining the preliminary data, publications and technical resources that can help to ensure successful competition in traditional NIH peer review.
U54 Funding Announcements
U54 Press Releases
Developmental Neuroscience Research Programs (DNRP)
Specialized Neuroscience Research Programs (SNRP) Top

Research Supplements to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research (PA-05-015)

Purpose and Eligibility: This program is designed to address the need for a diversified workforce by increasing the number of individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, and individual from disadvantaged backgrounds actively participating in biomedical research. As such, funding support is intended to attract and bolster research and research training experiences to better prepare these individuals for a productive career in the neurosciences. The program provides support for individuals throughout the continuum from high school to the faculty level.

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Supplements to Promote Reentry into Biomedical and Behavioral Research Careers (PA-04-126)

Purpose and Eligibility: The aim of these supplements is to encourage such individuals to reenter research careers within the missions of all the program areas of NIH. This program will provide administrative supplements to existing NIH research grants for the purpose of supporting full-time or part-time research by these individuals in a program geared to bring their existing research skills and knowledge up to date. It is anticipated that at the completion of the supplement, the reentry scientist will be in a position to apply for a career development (K) award, a research award, or some other form on independent research support.
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F31: NIH Predoctoral Fellowship Awards for Minority Students (PA-00-069)

Purpose and Eligibility: The NINDS will provide support for research training leading to the Ph.D. or equivalent research degree; the combined M.D./Ph.D. degree; or other combined professional doctorate/research Ph.D. degrees in the biomedical or behavioral sciences. These fellowships are for well-qualified students from minority groups found by the Institution to be underrepresented in the biomedical and behavioral sciences in the United States.

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F31: NIH Predoctoral Fellowship Awards for Students With Disabilities (PA-00-068)

Purpose and Eligibility: The NINDS will provide support for research training leading to the Ph.D. degree; the combined M.D./Ph.D. degree; or other combined professional doctorate/research Ph.D. degrees in the biomedical or behavioral sciences. The intent of this predoctoral fellowship program is to encourage students with disabilities to seek graduate degrees and thus further the goal of increasing the number of scientists with disabilities who are prepared to pursue careers in biomedical or behavioral research.

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F31: National Research Service Awards for Individual Predoctoral Fellows (PA-00-125)

Purpose and Eligibility: This program will provide predoctoral training support for doctoral candidates that have successfully completed their comprehensive examinations or the equivalent by the time of award and will be performing dissertation research and training. These fellowships are awarded to promising applicants with the potential to become productive, independent investigators in the neurological sciences.

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F32: Individual National Research Service Postdoctoral Awards (PA-00-104)

Purpose and Eligibility: Fellowships are made to applicants seeking postdoctoral research training in the basic and clinical neurological sciences. Before beginning the proposed fellowship, an applicant must earn a doctoral degree. In addition to biomedical research training, the proposed study must include an opportunity to conduct research.

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T32: Matching Supplements for Institutional National Research Service Award

Purpose and Eligibility: The NINDS uses the matching supplement program to provide an additional training slot for T32 programs that appoint a minority predoctoral or postdoctoral candidate. This program is consistent with the NIH policy of using Institutional National Research Service Awards (T32) to increase the pool of biomedical and behavioral research professionals to meet future national needs in the workforce.

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K01 - Career Development Award for Minority Scholars in Neuroscience (PAR-05-071)

Purpose and Eligibility: The objective of the Career Development Award to Promote Diversity in Neuroscience Research is to promote diversity among faculty-level neuroscience investigators who are competitively funded to conduct independent research. Eligible organizations include domestic for-profit or non-profit organizations, public or private institutions such as universities, colleges, hospitals, and medical, dental, or nursing schools or other institutions of higher education involved in neurological research. Eligible principal investigators include those individuals making the transition to an independent scientific career at the senior post-doctoral and junior faculty stages who come from groups that have been shown to be underrepresented in neuroscience research. Such candidates include individuals from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, and individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds. Applications will be reviewed based on several criteria including: (1) qualifications of the candidate; (2) the soundness of the proposed career development plan; (3) training in the responsible conduct of research; (4) the nature and scientific/technical merit of the proposed research plan; (5) the qualifications and appropriateness of the mentor/co-mentor; (6) environment and institutional commitment to the candidate's career; and (7) the strength of the description of how this particular award will promote diversity within the institution or in science nationally.

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S11: Collaborative Neurological Sciences (CNS) Award (PAR-02-130)

Purpose and Eligibility: The Collaborative Neurological Sciences Award (S11) encourages thematic research investigations to strengthen biomedical and behavioral programs at minority institutions. The award supports a research partnership for faculty at predominantly minority institutions and to collaborate with grantees from leading neuroscience research laboratories on specific research themes. The nature of the collaborations will include joint research efforts and publications, shared research instrumentation and resources, exchange of research techniques, and other scientific activities to enhance the research capabilities of applicants to successfully compete for independent research funding during the performance period of award. Eligible applicants are new investigators from minority institutions who can demonstrate an effective research collaboration with a currently NIH-supported neuroscience investigator, either of which may or may not be minority individuals. Applications must document thematic basic or clinical research projects in the neurological sciences that involve an efficacious collaborative effort among the participating investigators, each of whom will be conducting a portion of the total research project in his/her own laboratory. Applicants should also document training opportunities for predoctoral and postdoctoral students to the extent they may exist. The quality of the proposed research projects, the potential for the applicant investigator to produce the publications and preliminary data necessary to develop a competitive traditional research grant (e.g. R01) during the performance period of award and the possibility of productive research interactions will be important review factors.

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R25: Neuroscience Scholars Program (RFA-NS-03-002)

Purpose and Eligibility: The NIH "Program of Action to Address Health Disparities" recognizes that success in building an effective research infrastructure, and our ability to deliver research benefits to at-risk populations requires a commitment to training and supporting scientists from diverse racial/ethnic backgrounds. The purpose of these Education Projects is to enable the grantee organization to provide research and related experiences for undergraduate, graduate and medical students, postdoctoral fellows and other junior scientists from underrepresented racial/ethnic minority groups to broaden their skills and enhance their career development opportunities in order to contribute significantly to basic, clinical or translational neuroscience research. Funding support for Neuroscience Scholars Programs should lead to increased recruitment, mentoring, training and retention of minorities in the scientific and technology workforce.

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Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS) Neuroscience Scholars Program

Purpose and Eligibility: The long term goals of the NINDS Minority Travel Fellowship Neuroscience Programs are to identify, recruit and develop the next generation of neuroscience research and health professionals. Participation in this program should expose pre- and postdoctoral students to modern trends in neuroscience research and facilitate their advancement as future leaders in health and research careers in Neuroscience.
See also: SACNAS.

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Society for Neuroscience Travel Fellowship Programs

Purpose and Eligibility: The long term goal of this project is to increase the numbers of active neuroscientists who are from minority groups currently underrepresented in the field. Specific aims are to bring a select group of underrepresented minority neuroscientists and/or neuroscientists aspirants to an Annual Meeting of the Society for Neuroscience and to provide them with formal instruction in professional development.
See also: SFN

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NIH Policy on Reporting Race and Ethnicity Data: Subjects in Clinical Research (NOT-OD-01-053)

Purpose and Eligibility: The NIH has adopted the 1997 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) revised minimum standards for maintaining, collecting, and presenting data on race and ethnicity for all grant applications, contract and intramural proposals and for all active research grants, cooperative agreements, contract and intramural projects.

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Last updated December 30, 2008