Research Project
10382699
Abstract The RCMI Program in Health Disparities Research at Meharry Medical College proposed to support high quality basic, behavioral, and clinical research to eliminate health disparities through the following aims: 1. Support four outstanding research projects addressing HIV/AIDS, prostate cancer, racial and ethnic differences in periodontal disease microbiomes, and adversity-driven chronic pain to advance fundamental understanding of these health disparities. 2. Strengthen core technologies and expand bioinformatics and biostatistical services supporting the four 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. 3. Nurture an environment conducive to developing new and early career investigators by facilitating a mentorship network, enhancing professional developmental activities, and providing pilot project funds. 4. Improve and expand relationships with community-based organizations that partner with Meharry. 5. Recruit outstanding magnet scientists to energize current faculty and contribute to our research capacity in cancers of the underserved, infectious diseases including HIV-AIDS, disparity-causing differences in microbiomes of minorities, and societal adversity leading to debilitating chronic pain in African Americans. The center received its first NIMHD U54 grant in September 2017 and the center is now in its fourth year of funding. Notably, HIV/AIDS research is one of our RCMI Center?s major research focuses. Dr. Chandravanu Dash is one of the full project investigators at our center and his project focuses on understanding the role of cellular miRNAs in HIV-1 replication. Secondly, he currently has an NIH R01 funded project on HIV/AIDS (R01 AI 136740). In addition, Meharry?s Center for HIV/AIDS Health Disparities Research has many other HIV investigators. The renovations and associated equipment requested in this application will significantly promote overall HIV/AIDS research at Meharry. The overall goal of this supplement aligns well with our RCMI center?s goal of addressing health disparities including HIV/AIDS. If this application is funded, the PI/PDs of our RCMI center will oversee this renovation to make sure it achieves its goals. Furthermore, Dr. Dash and other HIV research collaborators at Meharry will be required to participate in our RCMI center?s activities including faculty development, seminars, periodic work-in-progress presentations, monthly NIMHD/RCMI teleconference and submission of progress reports. In summary, funding of this supplement, will empower our RCMI center to expand its HIV research. Our overarching expectation is that the funding will enhance our overall ability and successes to address HIV/AIDS disparity in the population we serve as well as promote our HIV investigators? competitiveness to obtain R01 grants to further boost HIV research at Meharry. .
