# The RCMI Program in Health Disparities Research at Meharry Medical College

> **NIH NIH U54** · MEHARRY MEDICAL COLLEGE · 2021 · $54,734

## Abstract

Abstract: In the application of our currently funded RCMI center, we proposed to address health disparities
at multiples scales of research: from micro to macro environments. With institutional collaboration and
support, our application proposed to continue 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 is not
discipline or disease focused, but emphasizes the disruption of disparity at all scales, from proteins to the
human ecosystems of the populations we serve. Our re-envisioned Research Infrastructure Core will provide
expert technical support in areas relevant to the research projects, as well as services such as design,
biostatistics, bio and health informatics, and cross-training support to benefit ALL researchers at the institution.
We have assembled a cadre of scientists including basic, behavioral, dental clinicians, population-based,
and community-engaged researchers at Meharry to participate in this endeavor. Our aims are to:
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.
We designed our RCMI Program in Health Disparities Research 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 is critical because finding the right answers to address
disparities in health equity involves all of us. Prostate cancer research is one of our RCMI Center’s major
research focuses.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10218390
- **Project number:** 3U54MD007586-34S8
- **Recipient organization:** MEHARRY MEDICAL COLLEGE
- **Principal Investigator:** Samuel Evans Adunyah
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $54,734
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 1997-09-30 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10218390

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10218390, The RCMI Program in Health Disparities Research at Meharry Medical College (3U54MD007586-34S8). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10218390. Licensed CC0.

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