SUMMARY OVERALL RENEWAL RCMI CENTER APPLICATION During the last funding cycle, 2019-2024, the PHSU RCMI Comprehensive Center for Health Disparities reached important milestones in spite of challenges caused by natural events of nature. According to the assessment made by the RCMI External Advisory Committee and the External Evaluation Team, the PHSU RCMI Center was successful in reaching the major goals and objectives for the funding cycle and accomplishments were significant. In the present renewal application, we are proposing to build up from previous accomplishments to move forward to the next level of competitiveness. The renewal application will consist of five Core Units (Administration, Research Faculty Recruitment, Center for Research Resources, Community Training for Health Disparities (CTIHD) and the Strategic Pipeline for Academic Research Career Success (SPARCS) and three full research projects. These research projects are designed to provide answer to critical questions in the area of health disparities. They include these studies: “Sex Difference in a rodent model of co-occurrence of chronic stress and cocaine use disorder” (Basic Full Research Project). “Testing Bridges to Better Health and Wellness for People Living with Serious Mental Illness in Puerto Rico” (Behavioral Full Research Project) and” Spleen Tyrosine Kinase Inhibition to Target Neutrophil Extracellular Traps in Asthma” (Clinical Full Research Project). These studies promise to shed light on fundamental details leading to health disparities in our most disadvantaged communities. The RCMI Center will continue to be spearheaded by Jose A. Torres-Ruiz, Ph.D., as the Contact PI; Richard Noel, Jr., Ph.D., PI, and Mrs. Doris Andujar as the Executive Manager. Progress of all proposed activities under the renewal RCMI application will be assessed by the RCMI Internal and External Advisory Committees, and by the Monitoring and Evaluation Team (Nexos). The Monitoring and Evaluation Team will review and implement the formative and summative evaluation plans across the PHSU-RCMI Center. The evaluation plans will be developed to assess the effectiveness of the Center to continue building research infrastructure to support development of high quality basic, behavioral, clinical, and translational research activities with strong emphasis on addressing minority health and health disparities. The external team will evaluate the progress of the center in fulfilling the mission of the overall program and its core objectives based on the measure of progress toward achieving short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals. The development of the PHSU RCMI Center will be supported by an aggressive recruitment of well-trained researchers in the RCMI targeted areas and the expansion of PHSU building facilities. The Center will also benefit from a robust institutional commitment and continuity of leadership across the Cores.