RCMI Cores

Health disparities have been defined as preventable differences in the burden of disease, injury, violence, or opportunities to achieve optimal health that are experienced by socially disadvantaged populations. In addition, an infirmity that disproportionately impacts one group is deemed a health disparity. Many diseases such as breast cancer, obesity, renal failure and hypertension with metabolic syndrome have been shown to more severely impact African American individuals and are thus classified as health disparities. Biomedical research activities at NCCU have been directed to biomedical and behavioral aspects of health disparities beginning in 1999. Development of this research has been supported by institutional, foundation, and NIH resources (various U, P, and R series grants). Highlights of activities demonstrating NCCU’s direction towards development of health disparities research include hosting the conference Pursuing Health Equity Through Translational Research and Partnerships in 2013; establishing Julius L. Chambers Visiting Scientist Program in Health Disparities; educating the public through theatrical productions (supported by NIH EXPORT grant) related to heart disease, stroke, drug addition, HIV/AIDS, prostate cancer, and breast cancer; and implementing the research doctoral program in Integrated Biosciences which targets complex issues that contribute to an unequal health burden in underrepresented populations.

There is an ongoing focus to expand the capacity to explore mechanisms addressing health disease disparities at NCCU. Congruent with this focus are the needs to augment institutional research capacity in basic biomedical and behavioral research; enhance competitiveness for obtaining extramural funding to address health disparities; support development of new and early investigators; institute activities to increase the quality of health disparities research; and continue to crystallize relationships with NC community-based organizations to sustain partnerships to explore educational and behavioral research activities. The RCHDR is designed expand the overall capacity to more effectively undertake health disparities research.

The Administrative Core (AC) of the RCMI Center for Health Disparity Research (RCHDR) will be directed by the Executive Committee (EC) composed of the PI, two co-Investigators (co-I), leader of the Investigator Development Core, the Scientific Program Coordinator, and administrative staff including a program manager and data analyst. Administrative and logistical support for all center activities will be provided by the AC. Mentoring for development of early investigators and post-doctoral fellows to perform rigorous basic biomedical and behavioral research will be a central focus of the RCHDR. The Mentoring Advisory Committee (MAC) will oversee the career development activities of investigators supported by the RCHDR. Augmentation of the research infrastructure at NCCU will effectively support the pursuit of this central focus of the RCHDR. The AC will oversee coordination and integration of three full health disparities research projects, the development and support of a pilot research program, implementation of five research infrastructure units, and engagement of a community core in the RCHDR as well as promote linkage to the RTRN. 

Therefore, under the guidance of our External and Internal Advisory committee, the overarching goal of the RCHDR is to expand the capacity to undertake health disparities disease research at NCCU. Specific Aims for the Admin Core of the RCMI Center for Health Disparity Research (RCHDR) are:

SA1: Provide administrative and logistical support for all center activities including cores and research projects.

SA2: Provide career enhancement activities for new and early investigators through ancillary resources to support seminars, workshops, and/or other career enhancement activities that promote the recruitment, advancement, and retention of investigators in biomedical careers and by fostering synergy with other ongoing career development activities at NCCU.

SA3: Provide an assessment of each proposed activity/core and assessment of the impact of the center in terms of: enhancing the institutional infrastructure and environment necessary to facilitate biomedical research; increasing productivity of investigators in peer-reviewed publications and discovery; and increasing NCCU’s overall success in applying for and obtaining extramural research funding.

Core Director:

Dr. M. Ricardo Richardson, [email protected], 919-530-6421

Core Co-Director:

Dr. Kevin P. Williams, [email protected], 919-530-7726

Co-Leads:

Dr. Nikia Laurie, [email protected], 919-530-7016

Dr. Dana Carthron, [email protected], 919-530-7222

Unit Leaders:

Dr. Derek C Norford, [email protected], 919-530-7023

Dr. Irene Doherty, [email protected], 919-530-7014

Dr. Undi Hoffler, [email protected], 919-530-5140

Health Disparities in the US are widespread, severe and unacceptable. Health disparities have been attributed to both socioeconomic and biological factors. Approaches to examine the biological factors that contribute to health disparities have been rapidly evolving due to the technological advances in biomedical sciences. Through the utilization of both in vitro and in vivo experimental models, these advances have led to the understanding of the molecular mechanism of some health disparities giving rise to the translation of research to meaningful improvements in health outcomes. Over the years, NCCU has developed multiple resources for health-related research within two research institutes, the Julius L. Chambers  

Biomedical/Biotechnology Research Institute (BBRI) and the Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise (BRITE) along with other departments in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), and College of Behavioral and Social Sciences (CBSS) to conduct basic and behavioral biomedical research. We have detailed our commitment to biomedical sciences and health disparities research in the overall section. To maintain and expand our health disparity research activities at NCCU and support RCHDR investigators, we propose to develop a Research Capacity Core (RCC) within this RCMI grant that will facilitate those goals.

This proposed Core will develop infrastructure that will function in a synergistic way to maximize the quality and productivity of the three research projects proposed in this current proposal, future pilot projects and other relevant research projects at NCCU. The RCC will also integrate strategic collaborations with researchers at area institutions and other RCMI centers to enhance our research capacity in health-related science, in particular, minority health and health disparities. As indicated in our letters of support from partners from Duke, NCSU, UNC and Wake forest (details in Investigator Development Core), we will also leverage the resources of neighboring institutions to enhance our capacity. To achieve these goals, we propose three specific aims as follows:

SA1: To establish new resources and integrate them with existing resources for health science research.

SA2: To support three research projects in the current proposal and future health science projects.

SA3: To interact with area institutions and RCMI Translational Research Network (RTRN).

In summary, RCC will provide synergistic environment to support to research projects in this proposal and future health disparity research projects at NCCU and promote intra- and inter-institutional collaborations.

Partnerships, Equity, Ethics and Compliance (PEEC): Develop new opportunities for resource sharing, mentoring and community engagement as well as develop joint research projects

Leads:

Deepak Kumar, [email protected], 919-530-7017

Dr. M. Ricardo Richardson, [email protected], 919-530-6421

Tracie Locklear, [email protected], 919-530-6251

Undi Hoffler, [email protected], 919-530-5140

Bio-mechanisms and Research Models (BRM): Expand and upgrade the core equipment, Rodent Behavioral Core (RBC), Establish a cost recovery plan from funded investigators for the research core

Leads:

Derek Norford, [email protected], 919-530-7023

Qing Cheng, [email protected], 919-530-5416

Somnath Mukhopadhyay, [email protected], 919-530-7762

Data Analytics and Research Methodology (DARM): Research Methodology • Geospatial • Statistical • Data Science and Informatics • Cross-campus collaboration to improve data equity

Leads:

Irene Doherty (Epidemiologist/Statistician), [email protected], 919-530-7014

Kimberly Weems (Maths/Statistics), [email protected], 919-530-6453

Timothy Mulrooney (GIS), [email protected], 919-530-6575

Weifan Zheng (Bioinformatics), [email protected], 919-530-6752

Siobahn Grady (AI/ML), [email protected], 919-530-6762

Population and Health Services (PHS): PHS will liaise our HOPE program and ACCORD along with Nursing Program that have built a robust infrastructure in health services research

Leads:

Dana Carthron, [email protected], 919-530-7222

Yolanda Vanriel, [email protected], 919-530-7232

Mobile Health Units Health Communications and Literacy (HCL): Health communication content development and dissemination • Social and behavioral intervention development and testing • Crossover collaboration and art-based health communication • Community Organization Training

Leads:

Tianduo Zhang, [email protected], 919-530-7200

Cherise Harrington, [email protected], 919-530-7130

Core Director:

Dr. Vijay Sivaraman, [email protected], 919-530-5564

Investigator development is an important part of capacity building for biomedical/behavioral research at the North Carolina Central University (NCCU). Multiple NCCU units offer a strong pool of faculty/scientists that will be targeted for development into biomedical/behavioral researchers in the area of health disparities. In this RCMI Center for Health Disparities and Research (RCHDR), three full Research Projects are proposed for years 01-05. The three initial research projects were identified and selected based on a rigorous selection process as described below, helping to ensure that the RCMI Center will be successful in meeting the objectives of the RFA. To further enhance the pool of scientists by providing pilot funding to generate preliminary data along with continuous support and mentoring, we will employ the following 2 specific aims (SA):

SA1: Administer and employ a rigorous and competitive pilot project program to stimulate new health disparity research at NCCU: This aim is designed to allow NCCU researchers (including senior postdocs, research faculty, tenure-track and tenured faculty) to generate preliminary data for subsequent submission of grant applications in the area of health disparities.

SA2: Provide support for NCCU faculty to develop as biomedical/behavioral researchers by (a) instituting a structured mentoring plan including the development of an individualized career development program (CDP); (b) Enhancing the health disparities research capacity at NCCU through training and ancillary activities such as seminars, workshops, fostering partnerships with neighboring institutions for capacity building of faculty; and (c) Developing an internal grant review framework similar to NIH online grant review process to ensure timely review of the NCCU grants before submission to external agencies.

IDC will work closely with administrative core components (IAC, EAC, MAC) and Research infrastructure core co-leads and managers to ensure seamless interaction between pilot awardees and RCHDR resources. Success of IDC is critical for the mission of RCHDR. The two specific aims are designed to complement each other for a successful pool of researchers focusing on important issues of minority health and health disparities. Thus, the IDC activities will have a broader impact on research capacity at NCCU and health disparities in the region and in Nation.

Core Co-Directors:

Dr. Seronda Robinson, [email protected], 919-530-7965 

Dr. Lorraine C Taylor, [email protected], 919-530-7092

While North Carolina Central University (NCCU) seeks to promote health equality, medically underserved populations in NC and southern VA continue to demonstrate unequal rates of morbidity and mortality from chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and cancer (1). These breaches in health care access and socio-economic and biological differences are particularly glaring among ethnic minority populations in urban and rural America. In an attempt to reduce such health disparities, community-based participatory research (CBPR) has emerged. This approach identifies community relevant health priorities and gaps, and assists in discovering environmental-biological interactions that could alter disease risk and health outcomes. (2,3,4) Academic institutions, community-based organizations, health care providers, and public health leaders must play a collective role in developing, employing, and distributing identified solutions into these areas. (5) NCCU has partnered with rural North Carolina communities to conduct CBPR of through the NIH Center of Excellence, P20 Center for Translational Health Equity Research. Most of the NCCU translational work has been carried out with community based partners in geographical areas with the lowest levels of research and clinical care infrastructures. We propose to expand our capacity to conduct health disparities research in more rural and urban communities where the largest disparity gaps exist by further developing a collaborative community that includes academicians, community health care providers, and public health advocates from government and community-based organizations, who collectively can aid in understanding the communities’ needs and tailor the research instruments to best translate new findings and solutions into the community settings where minority populations live. The proposed RCMI Center for Health Disparities Research (RCHDR) will meet this need by serving as a hub for investigating, deciphering, and translating new solutions, ideas, and practices with the goal to promote health equity among the underserved. To this end, NCCU RCHDR has solicited the commitments of numerous community-based advocates who will also be a vital component of the Center’s overall Advisory Committee (AC) (explained in admin core AC structure). This Community Engagement Core (CEC) will be charged with the following specific aims:

SA1. Develop a community infrastructure to provide the direction and priorities of the Core that will promote health equity among the underserved in urban (Lincoln Community Health Center and Sisters Network, Durham) and rural (Sunesis Comprehensive Care, St. Paul) North Carolina. This Core will develop a community engagement advisory board from both locations to ensure community communication competency with stakeholders in urban and rural North Carolina. The support structure will allow, assess and address operational issues (e.g. recruitment logistics, etc.) for RCMI projects that have been funded or are being considered for pilot funding, both prospectively and iteratively during the course of the funding period.

SA2. Expand and identify the priorities of our current community partners at Lincoln Community Health Center and Sunesis Comprehensive Care and diverse academic, community, clinical, public health stakeholders in order to support outreach activities that will describe the health disparities in local communities to inform NCCU RCMI research efforts. The innovation and significance of these partnerships has been demonstrated previously in our successful partnership with community stakeholders in the Research Triangle Park and Halifax County, NC. The Core will utilize resources to integrate expertise across NCCU pilot/full projects, community collaborators, and academic units to identify new biological and behavioral solutions through evidence-based and mixed methods approaches that reduce health inequality.

SA3. Translate findings from NCCU RCMI cancer and cardio-metabolic research into clinical and community-based practices that reduce health disparities. Develop and disseminate health information and curricula through workshops and collaborative interactions between Core representatives and patients, physicians and policy-makers to improve the health disposition of their local communities. The Community Engagement Core will work directly with the NCCU RCMI leadership, academic departments and Institutes to identify new biological targets, improve community research infrastructure, and facilitate the implementation of new strategies to improve cancer and cardiometabolic disease outcomes in clinical, community, and public health settings.

Thus, the overall aim of the Community Engagement Core is to establish communication and shared activities between the NCCU’s RCMI Center for Health Disparities Research and medically underserved urban and rural communities to improve the overall health of African Americans in North Carolina.