News Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, January 9, 2006 |
Contact: Doug
Hussey
301-402-1366 |
HHS Awards More Than $56 Million to Eliminate Health Disparities
HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today announced the awarding of $56.9 million by the National
Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities
(NCMHD). These funds support the advancement of health disparities research and the
elimination of health disparities among racial and ethnic minority and medically underserved
communities.
“Eliminating health disparities as they affect racial, ethnic, and underserved populations
is a critical goal of the department,” Secretary Leavitt said. “These funds are essential
to support the innovative scientific solutions our nation needs to close the health
gap in this country.”
The NCMHD was designated by the Congress to lead, coordinate, support, and assess
the NIH research effort to reduce and ultimately eliminate health disparities as they
affect racial and ethnic communities and medically underserved individuals.
“The NIH continues to lead the nation’s scientific discovery,” according to NIH Director
Dr. Elias Zerhouni. “The innovative biomedical, behavioral, and social sciences research
at NIH will help to identify cutting-edge diagnostics, treatments, and preventive strategies
to address this public health crisis.”
“The NCMHD continues to strengthen partnerships between the NIH and institutions and
individuals engaged in health disparities research to build the inclusive, collaborative
biomedical and behavioral research enterprise we need to win the fight to eliminate
health disparities,” said Dr. John Ruffin, Director, NCMHD. “Presently, the national
reach of the NCMHD extends to more than 100 institutions and more than 600 individuals
that have received awards to train for health professions careers, conduct health disparities
research, build research capacity, and advance outreach efforts.”
The following fiscal year (FY) 2005 awards were made by the NCMHD:
- New NCMHD Community-Based Participatory Research Program (CBPR) awards totaling
$12 million have been made to 25 institutions. The CBPR aims to develop effective
community-based participatory research programs, which will accelerate both the translation
of research advances to health disparity communities and the elimination of health
disparities. Key research areas in which NCMHD community partners will engage include
cancer, cardiovascular diseases, child health improvement, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and
obesity.
- Awards totaling $15.9 million have been made to four institutions under the NCMHD
Research Endowment Program for the purpose of facilitating minority health disparities
research and other health disparities research. The activities of the institutions
involve strengthening teaching programs in the biomedical and behavioral sciences;
establishing endowed chairs and programs; obtaining state-of-the-art equipment for
instruction and research; and enhancing the recruitment and retention of student
and faculty from health disparity populations.
- New awards totaling $8 million have been made to five academic institutions under
the NCMHD Centers of Excellence in Partnerships for Community Outreach, Research
on Health Disparities and Training (Project EXPORT) Program. Awards support the establishment
of new university partnerships; new partnerships between universities and health
disparity community organizations; innovative basic and intervention research studies
on breast, prostate, and pancreatic cancers, human papillomavirus (HPV), human immunodeficiency
virus (HIV), diabetes, cultural resilience, adolescent risk behaviors, cardiovascular
disease; and training programs to increase the number of individuals from health
disparity populations entering the health professions and conducting research on
health disparities.
- Awards totaling $10.7 million have been issued to 244 qualified health professionals
under the NCMHD Loan Repayment Programs. These programs promote a diverse and strong
scientific workforce, alleviating the financial barriers that often discourage many
talented health professionals from health disparity, medically underserved and disadvantaged
communities from pursuing a research career. The Loan Repayment Programs provide
loan repayment of up to $35,000 per year to qualified doctoral degree professionals
in exchange for two years of service in health disparities research or clinical research.
- Awards totaling $5.4 million have been made to 24 institutions under the NCMHD
Minority Health and Health Disparities International Research Training (MHIRT) Program in partnership with the Fogarty International Center. The MHIRT Program supports
innovative programs that offer international research training opportunities to qualified
undergraduate, graduate, and health professions students who are from health disparities
populations and/or are underrepresented in basic science, biomedical, clinical, or
behavioral health research career fields. Awards will support research on subjects
such as epidemiology of dengue fever, neurobiology, molecular and immunological aspects
of tropical medicine and parasitology, virology, drug design and antibiotics, and
public health and immigrant health. Students will travel and work with investigators
in countries such as Mexico, Uganda, Ghana, Australia, Peru, Spain and South Africa.
- New awards totaling $3.8 million have been made to five minority-serving institutions
under the NCMHD Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) Program.
The RIMI Program focuses on building research capacity in predominantly minority-serving
academic institutions that offer one or more associate, baccalaureate, and/or master’s
degrees in the life sciences, behavioral sciences, and/or other health-related areas.
- Awards totaling $1.1 million have been made to six small business concerns under
the Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR)
program. These programs are designed for small business concerns to engage in federal
research with the potential for commercialization; and, to develop and facilitate
cooperative research and development between small business concerns and research
institutions in the United States, with the potential for commercialization.
A list of the FY 2005 grantees follows.
NCMHD Community-Based Participatory Research Program
Institution |
City |
State |
University of Alaska Fairbanks |
Fairbanks |
Alaska |
University of Arizona College of Public Health |
Tucson |
Arizona |
University of California |
Los Angeles |
California |
RAND Corporation |
Santa Monica |
California |
University of Colorado Denver/Health Science Center Aurora |
Aurora |
Colorado |
Georgia State University |
Atlanta |
Georgia |
University of Hawaii at Manoa |
Honolulu |
Hawaii |
Mountain States Group |
Boise |
Idaho |
Northwestern University |
Evanston |
Illinois |
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor |
Ann Arbor |
Michigan |
Saint Louis University |
Saint Louis |
Missouri |
Institute for Urban Family Health |
New York |
New York |
Mount Sinai School of Medicine |
New York |
New York |
New York University School of Medicine |
New York |
New York |
Yeshiva University |
Bronx |
New York |
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
Chapel Hill |
North Carolina |
Duke University School of Medicine |
Durham |
North Carolina |
Cleveland State University |
Cleveland |
Ohio |
University of Pennsylvania |
Philadelphia |
Pennsylvania |
Aberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board |
Rapid City |
South Dakota |
University of Texas Pan American |
Edinburgh |
Texas |
University of Texas El Paso |
El Paso |
Texas |
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center |
Seattle |
Washington |
University of Washington |
Seattle |
Washington |
Medical College of Wisconsin |
Milwaukee |
Wisconsin |
NCMHD Research Endowment Program
Institution |
City |
State |
Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science |
Los Angeles |
California |
Morehouse School of Medicine |
Atlanta |
Georgia |
University of New Mexico, School of Medicine |
Albuquerque |
New Mexico |
University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, School of Dentistry |
San Juan |
Puerto Rico |
NCMHD Centers of Excellence in Partnerships for Community Outreach, Research on
Health Disparities, and Training (Project EXPORT) Program
Institution |
City |
State |
Loma Linda University |
Loma Linda |
California |
University of Connecticut Storrs |
Storrs |
Connecticut |
University of South Carolina at Columbia |
Columbia |
South Carolina |
University of South Dakota |
Vermillion |
South Dakota |
University of North Texas Health Science Center |
Fort Worth |
Texas |
NCMHD Minority Health and Health Disparities International Research Training (MHIRT)
Program
Institution |
City |
State |
University of Alabama at Birmingham |
Birmingham |
Alabama |
University of Arizona |
Tucson |
Arizona |
University of California Irvine |
Irvine |
California |
University of California Santa Cruz |
Santa Cruz |
California |
California State University Fullerton |
Fullerton |
California |
San Diego State University |
San Diego |
California |
Howard University |
Washington |
District of Columbia |
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University |
Tallahassee |
Florida |
Florida International University |
Miami |
Florida |
University of Iowa |
Iowa City |
Iowa |
Tulane University of Louisiana |
New Orleans |
Louisiana |
Johns Hopkins University |
Baltimore |
Maryland |
University of Michigan at Ann Arbor |
Ann Arbor |
Michigan |
Alcorn State University |
Alcorn |
Mississippi |
College at Old Westbury |
Albany |
New York |
Cornell University Ithaca |
Ithaca |
New York |
Mount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University |
New York |
New York |
Elizabeth City State University |
Elizabeth City |
North Carolina |
Pennsylvania State University- University Park |
University Park |
Pennsylvania |
University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras |
San Juan |
Puerto Rico |
Christian Brothers University |
Memphis |
Tennessee |
University of Texas El Paso |
El Paso |
Texas |
Hampton University |
Hampton |
Virginia |
University of Washington |
Seattle |
Washington |
NCMHD Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) Program
Institution |
City |
State |
California State University Los Angeles |
Los Angeles |
California |
University of the District of Columbia |
Washington |
District of Columbia |
Southern University Shreveport-Bossier |
Shreveport |
Louisiana |
University of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College |
Brownsville |
Texas |
Norfolk State University |
Norfolk |
Virginia |
NCMHD Small Business Innovative Research and Small Business Technology Transfer
(SBIR/SBTT) Program
Institution |
City |
State |
Nora, LLC. |
Baltimore |
Maryland |
Eva Pharmaceutical, LLC. |
Rochester |
New York |
Polyglot Systems, Inc. |
Morrisville |
North Carolina |
Point Vista Software, LLC. |
Eugene |
Oregon |
Virogenomics, Inc. |
Tigard |
Oregon |
C-Three Scientific Corporation |
Seattle |
Washington |
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