# PHSU Specialized Center in Health Disparities.

> **NIH NIH U54** · PONCE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE · 2020 · $4,388,253

## Abstract

OVERALL SUMMARY
PHSU has experienced substantial development of its human and physical research infrastructure. Through
auspices of the RCMI Program, PHSU has been able to recruit top-notch talent, acquire state-of-the-art
facilities, equipment, and other resources required to pursue competitive basic, clinical, and behavioral
research. As a direct impact of this development, the institution has greatly benefited from the improvement
in: number and quality of the peer-reviewed manuscripts elicited by the faculty, number of scientific
presentations at competitive forums at the national and international levels, and number of submitted and
funded research and research training initiatives. In furthering with these efforts, the institution is submitting
the present renewal application. Its main goal is to promote high-quality translational research with a strong
emphasis on health disparities (HD). The present application consists of five Core activities; Administration
Core (AC), Center for Research Resources (CRR), Strategic Academic Research Training (START) Core,
the Community Training Institute for Health Disparities (CTIHD), and the Faculty Recruitment (FR) Core. The
AC is intended to spearhead a series of initiatives designed to strengthen the institution as a robust and
vibrant translational research center and to further develop our research faculty into independent and
competent biomedical researchers. These initiatives include the organization and inception of; professional
development activities and the establishment of new research partnerships and collaborations. The START
Core proposes the development of early-stage investigators involved in minority health and HD research to
address the overarching goal of providing for a diverse national workforce to bring parity to health and
healthcare outcomes. The proposed CRR is designed to provide modern technologies and facilities to support
the development of the research projects, pilot projects, and Cores within the RCMI program. The CTIHD
Core is intended to establish an innovative infrastructure for promoting HD research through the strengthening
of RCMI/PHSU researchers and their partnerships with community members. The proposed FR Core has
been designed to recruit and retain productive highly productive research faculty in RCMI targeted areas;
Cancer Biology/Oncology, Neurosciences, Infectious Diseases, Cardiovascular/Hypertension research, and
Human Genetics. Moreover, the present RCMI application contains three full research projects (RO1 level).
The proposed leadership for this new RCMI Program will use the multiple PIs option. The key personnel at
the AC (Drs. Torres-Ruiz and Noel, and Ms. Andujar) will be empowered with the necessary authority to carry
out the RCMI Program implementation plan as proposed. Moreover, current upper administration at the
applicant institution is fully committed to the mission, goals, and general objectives of the proposed RCMI
Program consonant to the...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9967093
- **Project number:** 5U54MD007579-35
- **Recipient organization:** PONCE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
- **Principal Investigator:** Richard J. Noel
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $4,388,253
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 1997-08-25 → 2024-02-29

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9967093

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9967093, PHSU Specialized Center in Health Disparities. (5U54MD007579-35). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9967093. Licensed CC0.

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