The RCMI Program in Health Disparities Research at Meharry Medical College

ABSTRACT
The RCMI Program in Health Disparities Research at Meharry Medical College (RHDR@MMC) proposes to address health disparities at multiples scales of research: from micro to macro environments. With strengthened institutional collaboration and support, this renewal application seeks to expand the long-term RCMI support of enabling high quality basic, behavioral, and clinical research to eliminate health disparities as our long-term goal. The RHDR@MMC focuses on diseases that negatively impact on minority health. The center uses interdisciplinary approaches to engage in highly innovative research focusing on strategies that emphasize disruption of disparity at all levels, from proteins to the human populations and the communities Meharry serves. Our newly established one-stop state-of-art Meharry RCMI Research Capacity Core (MRRCC) will provide expert innovative technical support in areas relevant to the research projects, as well as services such as design, biostatistics, data science/genomic and CRISPR- Cas9 , biologic and health informatics, and cross-training support to benefit the entire researchers at Meharry. Furthermore, our reinvigorated Investigator Development Core (IDC) will enhance development of Early-State-Investigators. Likewise, redesigned Meharry Community Engagement Core (MCEC) will further enhance our ability to significantly contribute towards understanding and reducing health disparities impact. We have assembled a cadre of resolute scientists including basic, behavioral, data science, dental clinicians, population-based, and community-engaged researchers at Meharry to participate in this endeavor. Our aims are to: Support three outstanding research projects focusing on addressing heath disparities by examining the neuropsychiatric effects of HIV-1 integrase inhibitors, risk factors for racial disparities in adverse perinatal outcomes affecting African American Women and assessment of survivor and provider perception of trauma and violence informed care among Black Women. Strengthen core technologies and expand bioinformatics, biostatistical, data science, and core tissue culture services supporting the three research projects, as well as all Meharry research faculty, to increase institutional success in extramural funding studying diseases that disproportionally affect minority and other health disparity populations. Nurture and enrich an environment conducive to developing new and early career investigators by facilitating a mentorship network, enhancing professional developmental activities, and providing pilot project funds. Improve and expand relationships with community-based organizations that partner with Meharry. The RHDR@MMC) is designed to address health disparities through research in diseases that affect the community it serves, engagement of this community in its solutions, and creating technologies and research infrastructure to serve the institutional scientific community and its academic and community partners. This collaborative approach to finding the right answers to address disparities in health involves team effort including Meharry’s investigators.

Grant Number: 5U54MD007586-39
NIH Institute/Center: NIH
Principal Investigator: Samuel Adunyah