# RCMI Center for Health Disparities Research

> **NIH NIH U54** · NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $3,339,271

## Abstract

Abstract - Overall
The North Carolina Central University (NCCU) seeks competitive renewal of its RCMI - Center for Health
Disparities Research (RCHDR) to continue enhancing NCCU's research ecosystem to develop investigators
who are conducting impactful and cutting-edge research to address health disparities (HD). The Center is an
interdisciplinary effort at NCCU housed at the Julius L. Chambers Biomedical/Biotechnology Research Institute
(BBRI), an institute opened in 1999 to pursue research disproportionately afflicting minority populations in NC
and to diversify the research workforce. In this renewal application, a concerted effort was made to establish an
inclusive, diverse, and representative leadership team for the RCHDR through a group of senior- and mid-level
experienced individuals. The Center will be comprised of four Cores: Administrative Core (AC); Research
Capacity Core (RCC) (arranged into 5 sub-cores); Investigator Development Core (IDC) and Community
Engagement Core (CEC) supporting one basic and one behavioral full biomedical research project plus pilot
studies. The Center will continue to leverage resources and partnerships at neighboring research organizations
in the Research Triangle Park, NC area, with community based organizations (CBOs) in rural and urban NC as
well as the nationwide RCMI network via the RCMI coordinating center to advance the following three specific
aims: (1) Enhance basic biomedical and behavioral HD research at NCCU by conducting two innovative
research projects and instituting a restructured RCC with innovative capabilities to support basic and behavioral
biomedical and population health projects, while enriching our research ecosystem; (2) Prepare and enable all
investigators (including postdoctoral, early stage, research track, tenure-track and tenured) to become
successful extramurally funded HD researchers through coordinated activities of the AC and IDC; and (3)
Strengthen and grow the CEC by fostering existing and new sustainable relationships with CBOs and local health
departments to further extend the community-based network for continued engagement with stakeholders and
dissemination and implementation of HD research findings. In this competitive renewal, we will continue our
focus on basic biomedical and behavioral sciences. Continued support of our RCMI – Center, through
leveraging previous work and the commitment of NCCU to biomedical research, will have profound impact on
the region, while greatly enhancing the research capacity at this HBCU and driving it towards achieving its
mission of addressing health disparities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10556579
- **Project number:** 2U54MD012392-06
- **Recipient organization:** NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Cherise Baldwin Harrington
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $3,339,271
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2017-09-20 → 2027-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10556579

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10556579, RCMI Center for Health Disparities Research (2U54MD012392-06). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10556579. Licensed CC0.

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