HHS Awards More Than $65 Million to Eliminate Health Disparities 10/10/2003
From: NIH Office of Communications, 301-496-5787 WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 -- HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced the awarding of $65.1 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. "These awards reinforce our continuing commitment to eliminate health disparities experienced by traditionally disadvantaged populations across the nation," Secretary Thompson said. "Our comprehensive effort to close the health gap among minorities continues to strengthen our nation's health care safety net and provide more health services to more Americans." The NCMHD was designated by 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. "Broadening collaborative relationships developed through partnerships between NIH and institutions and researchers from all populations is necessary to advance progress that will translate scientific discovery into tangible health benefits for all Americans," NIH Director Dr. Elias Zerhouni said. "This year's awards will expand the reach of the center as well as the impact these programs have on strengthening our nation's research infrastructure and ability to advance the work to eliminate health disparities," said John Ruffin, Ph.D., director of NCMHD. "If we are to solve the problem of health disparities, we must be more inclusive in our research endeavors." The following fiscal year 2003 awards were made by NCMHD: -- New Endowment Program awards totaling $20 million have been made to four institutions for the purpose of facilitating minority health disparities research and other health disparities research. These institutions are all Centers of Excellence as defined by Section 736 of the Public Health Service Act. The grants will help these institutions to strengthen and build their capacity for minority health and other health disparities research. -- Awards totaling $32 million have been made to 33 new eligible biomedical and behavioral research institutions under the Centers of Excellence in Partnerships for Community Outreach, Research on Health Disparities and Training (Project EXPORT). These awards will support health disparities research, with 23 institutions receiving funds to begin developing health disparities centers and 10 other institutions receiving planning grants. The program aims to build research capacity at designated institutions enrolling a significant number of students from health disparity populations and to promote participation and training in biomedical and behavioral research among health disparity populations. -- New awards totaling $4.8 million have been made to five qualified biomedical and behavioral research institutions under the Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) Program. The RIMI program assists non-doctoral degree institutions to develop their research infrastructures, primarily through collaborations with research-intensive universities. -- $8.3 million in new awards have been issued to 148 qualified health professionals under the Loan Repayment Programs, which are designed to increase the number of individuals conducting clinical or health disparities research, including researchers from health disparities populations. A list of the institutional grantees follows. NCMHD Fiscal Year 2003 Awards NCMHD Endowment Program Awards Tuskegee University, Tuskegee, Alabama Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Florida Xavier University of Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee --- NCMHD Centers of Excellence Program University of Alabama, Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama University of Alaska, Anchorage, Anchorage, Alaska University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona University of California, Davis, Davis, California University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Aurora, Colorado Howard University, Washington, District of Columbia Florida International University, Miami, Florida Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, Florida Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia Morehouse College, Atlanta, Georgia Governors State University, University Park, Illinois University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, Iowa University of Maryland Baltimore Professional School, Baltimore, Maryland Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc., Rockville, Maryland University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, Michigan Jackson State University, Jackson, Mississippi Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York Columbia University Health Sciences, New York, New York New York University School of Medicine, New York, New York University of North Carolina, Greensboro, Greensboro, North Carolina University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee University of Texas at Brownsville, Brownsville, Texas Texas A&M Research Foundation, College Station, Texas University of Texas, El Paso, El Paso, Texas University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston, Houston, Texas University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas Texas College, Tyler, Texas University of Wisconsin, Madison, Madison, Wisconsin --- NCMHD Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions Alabama State University, Montgomery, Alabama Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, California San Francisco State University, San Francisco, California North Carolina A&T State University, Greensboro, North Carolina University of Texas, El Paso, El Paso, Texas Note: All HHS press releases, fact sheets and other press materials are available at http://www.hhs.gov/news. |