# RCMI@Morgan: Center for Urban Health Disparities Research and Innovation

> **NIH NIH U54** · MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $3,939,000

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY– Overall
During the current grant cycle, RCMI@Morgan has significantly contributed to advancing the science of health
disparities. In the next 5 years, our overarching goal is to develop a more robust biomedical research ecosystem
to foster innovative biomedical, socio-behavioral and clinical research aimed at improving minority health and
reducing or eliminating health disparities in urban communities. This goal will be achieved through five specific
aims: 1) Strengthen the capacity of MSU to conduct innovative biomedical, socio-behavioral and clinical
research addressing health disparities issues of concern to urban communities; by: (i) developing and
implementing mechanisms and processes to enhance health disparities research; (ii) hiring a senior biomedical
scientist to strengthen the biomedical research ecosystem; (iii) supporting three innovative research projects
designed to address health disparity diseases that disproportionally affect minorities and underserved
communities; and (iv) enhancing the program website to foster effective communication. 2) Strengthen the
biomedical research ecosystem to further support innovative research on health disparities issues of
concern to urban communities; by: (1) creating a robust research ecosystem that fosters multidisciplinary
collaborations and biomedical research convergence of many disciplines; (ii) strengthening the Research
Capacity Core and improving its management to foster sustainability. 3) Create opportunities for professional
development and career enhancement of early stage investigators; by: (i) leveraging the Investigator
Development Core (IDC) to create a robust pilot project program that helps ESIs conduct innovative, hypothesis-
driven research and gather the preliminary data needed to develop and submit stronger proposals (R-type) for
competitive grants from NIH or other agencies; (ii) Implementing specific career development activities to
facilitate the transition of ESIs to biomedical research independence. 4) Foster opportunities for translational
research; by: (i) leveraging the Community Engagement Core to build sustainable relationships with community-
based organizations; (ii) promoting community-academic partnerships to address urban health disparities issues;
(III) fostering community participation in biomedical research, and full engagement in research development and
implementation; and (iv) disseminating research findings to improve minority health; and (v) fostering strong
partnerships to enhance the biomedical research environment and maximize productivity. 5) Perform a
comprehensive evaluation of all the strategic activities of the Center; by: (i) Collecting and analyzing data
on all programmatic activities of the Center based on the logic model that has been developed to guide the
Center evaluation; (ii) conducting both formative and summative evaluations of major components of the Center;
(iii) documenting successes and identifying areas of impro...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11002063
- **Project number:** 2U54MD013376-06A1
- **Recipient organization:** MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Paul B. Tchounwou
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $3,939,000
- **Award type:** 2
- **Project period:** 2019-07-31 → 2029-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11002063

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11002063, RCMI@Morgan: Center for Urban Health Disparities Research and Innovation (2U54MD013376-06A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11002063. Licensed CC0.

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