# Molecular and Cellular Basis for Digestive Diseases

> **NIH NIH P30** · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · 2021 · $39,483

## Abstract

VANDERBILT DIGESTIVE DISEASES RESEARCH CENTER (VDDRC) SUPPLEMENT
ABSTRACT
Increasing diversity is an overarching institutional priority at Vanderbilt. However,
underrepresented minority (URM) investigators comprise only 8% of the Vanderbilt Digestive
Diseases Research Center (VDDRC) membership; therefore, a long-term VDDRC goal going
forward is to have diversity hard-wired in the VDDRC continuum from digestive diseases
training to research to clinical care. This process must involve recruitment and retention of URM
digestive disease-associated faculty, house staff, postdoctoral fellows, graduate students and
staff. As such, we are requesting NIDDK Supplemental funds to promote diversity efforts by
sponsoring a scientific and career mentoring retreat specifically targeting underrepresented
minorities. This effort will be undertaken in conjunction with Meharry Medical College in
Nashville. Vanderbilt has a formal alliance with Meharry, one of only three minority medical
colleges in the country, bringing together strengths for the benefit of education, patient care, and
research. The Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs at Meharry, Dr. Smoot, is a
Gastroenterologist and he and Dr. Peek are close colleagues and have known each other
professionally for over two decades based on their common research interest in H. pylori
pathogenesis. For this program, the VDDRC and Meharry will invite 6 successful URM
investigators to present a research seminar and host a career mentoring session with URM
medical students, residents, fellows and junior faculty drawn from Divisions and Departments
represented within the VDDRC and Meharry. This will be coordinated by Dr. Peek and Dr.
Coburn, an underrepresented minority VDDRC investigator, along with Dr. Smoot. This program
will complement the overarching Diversity initiatives developed at Vanderbilt to create new
opportunities that increase diversity across the Vanderbilt community by attracting new
investigators from diverse backgrounds to digestive diseases research, promoting new research
directions and increasing collaboration and diversity in the research workforce.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10397341
- **Project number:** 3P30DK058404-20S1
- **Recipient organization:** VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** RICHARD M. PEEK
- **Activity code:** P30 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $39,483
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2002-06-01 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10397341

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10397341, Molecular and Cellular Basis for Digestive Diseases (3P30DK058404-20S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-14 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10397341. Licensed CC0.

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