RCMI Specialized Centers

Program Description

RFA-MD-20-006: Research Centers in Minority Institutions (U54 Clinical Trials Optional)

The purpose of the Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Specialized Centers program is to expand national capacity for research in the health sciences by providing cooperative agreement support to institutions that offer doctoral degrees in the health professions or in a health-related science and have a historical and current commitment to educating underrepresented students, and for institutions that deliver healthcare services, providing clinical services to medically underserved communities.

Goals

• Enhance institutional research capacity to conduct world-class basic biomedical, behavioral, and/or clinical research
• Enable all levels of investigators to become more successful in obtaining competitive extramural support, especially from NIH, particularly for research on diseases that disproportionately impact minority and health disparity populations
• Foster environments conducive to career development and enhancement for post-doctoral fellows, junior faculty, and other early stage investigators
• Enhance the tools for, conduct of, and dissemination of research generally and specifically for advancing minority health and preventing and eliminating health disparities
• Establish sustainable relationships with community-based organizations that will partner with the RCMI institution

Eligibility

The RCMI Program supports projects at domestic public and private higher education institutions located in the United States and its territories which:

• Have received an average of less than $50 million per year of NIH support for the past three fiscal years.
• Award doctoral degrees in the health professions or the sciences related to health.
• Have a historical and current mission to educate students from any of the populations identified as underrepresented in biomedical research as defined by the National Science Foundation (NSF) (i.e., African Americans or Blacks, Hispanic or Latino Americans, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and persons with disabilities).
• -or-
• Have a documented track record of: (1) recruiting, training and/or educating, and graduating underrepresented students as defined by NSF (see above), which has resulted in increasing the institution's contribution to the national pool of graduates from underrepresented backgrounds who pursue biomedical research careers and, (2) for institutions that deliver healthcare services, providing clinical services to medically underserved communities.

Page updated July 25, 2022