# Investigator Development Core

> **NIH NIH U54** · CHARLES R. DREW UNIVERSITY OF MED & SCI · 2024 · $517,196

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
INVESTIGATOR DEVELOPMENT CORE
The etiology of the broad spectrum of health disparities suffered by minority and socioeconomically
disadvantaged populations in the United States is complex and multifactorial. Charles R. Drew University of
Medicine and Science (CDU) has worked toward increasing its core of health disparity researchers for years.
Developing well-trained basic, clinical, and behavioral research faculty with an in-depth understanding of racial
and ethnic health disparities allows minority institutions such as CDU to take leadership in these critical areas.
The AXIS Center has been focused on supporting this goal in the last 15 years, with measurable success in
establishing a cohort of young faculty who advanced in their academic appointments, secured independent
funding, and increased their productivity and quality regarding the number of citations and impact factor of
publications. The mentoring program established by AXIS Professional Development and Pilot Project Core (1st
funding cycle) has increased faculty productivity in journals, grant submissions, and funding. The trainees
received training grants (KL2, R03, Pilots) and research grants such as R01-level projects funded through
various NIH programs (NCI, NIMHD, NIA, NIGMS). In the next 5 years, the Investigator Development Core (IDC)
will continue building an environment supporting early career stage investigators (ESIs) and Post-Doctoral
Fellows (PDFs) to conduct their research projects focused on reducing health disparities that either generate
preliminary data for subsequent submission of grant applications and/or results in a peer-reviewed research
publication.
In the next 5 years, IDC will continue building on the 15 years of success in training and supporting ESIs and
PDFs career development at CDU. The proposed Aims will be achieved by leveraging the Administrative Core,
Community Engagement Core (CEC), Research Capacity Core (RCC), and collaboration with other RCMI
institutions and the NIMHD program. The three Aims are designed to complement each other for sustaining and
increasing CDU ESI's overall research competitiveness in biomedical, behavioral, and clinical sciences with a
focus on health disparity and enhancing the success of ESIs in seeking extramural funding from the government
(e.g., the K- or R-series awards from NIH).

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11000743
- **Project number:** 2U54MD007598-16
- **Recipient organization:** CHARLES R. DREW UNIVERSITY OF MED & SCI
- **Principal Investigator:** MOHSEN BAZARGAN
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $517,196
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2009-09-28 → 2029-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11000743

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11000743, Investigator Development Core (2U54MD007598-16). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-06-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11000743. Licensed CC0.

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