North Carolina Central University has been awarded $16.3 million to research health disparities, Black Enterprise reports.

The grant comes courtesy of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, a division of the National Institutes of Health. It will go toward a new Research Center in Minority Institutions meant to elevate the university’s health disparities research program.

The grant will support health disparities research across the NCCU campus, one of the seven minority-serving institutions that received the award.

The research will fund the largest annual grant amount received for a non-Title III grant by the university. It is also the largest funding for a single principal investigator on NCCU’s campus.

This major research grant will allow North Carolina Central University to engage in transformative research that examines health disparities and identifies real-world solutions that strengthen health care for minority populations throughout our state,” University of North Carolina President Margaret Spellings. “Moreover, the establishment of the new Research Center in Minority Institutions supports our shared goal of enhancing research opportunities, which will ultimately improve the quality of life of our citizens and generate economic growth.”

The NCCU Research Center in Minority Institutions seeks to develop and strengthen NCCU’s research infrastructure in order to conduct “cutting-edge health disparities research and to foster the next generation of minority biomedical researchers,” according to Black Enterprise.

“The significant research funding provided by the National Institutes of Health elevates North Carolina Central University’s noteworthy work investigating solutions to some of the nation’s toughest health disparities that persist as challenges to communities of color,” Johnson O. Akinleye, Ph.D., chancellor of NCCU, said. “Through this grant, I am thrilled that Dr. Kumar and his team are already fulfilling three of the six strategic priorities represented in ‘The Eagle Promise‘ initiative, which focus on expanding research, facilitating innovative strategic partnerships with the Research Triangle Park, and building new infrastructure for the university.”

 

Outstanding.