Investigator Development Core

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ABSTRACT Historically and for centuries, African-Americans have been among the most affected by health disparities, as reflected in their markedly higher death rates, infant mortality, and other measures of longevity and quality of life. One of the worst and persistent disparities in our nation affects African-American women and their children, who bear an overwhelming burden of maternal and infant mortality and other poor maternal and child health indicators of health-related quality of life. There is also ample evidence that minorities, and especially African-Americans, are poorly represented among individuals receiving doctoral degrees in the biological sciences (e.g., only about 3% are African-Americans even though they represent more than 12% of the national population). African- Americans are also disproportionately disadvantaged with respect to intramural and extramural NIH funding awarded nationwide. Of total funding by the NIH, only 1.4% were received by African-American PI’s, and the situation has not improved over time. A pathway to addressing this huge shortage in independently funded African-American researchers is through a program that addresses health disparities coupled with support of budding investigators from under-represented minorities. The Investigator Development Core (IDC) is one of the key mechanisms by which the Maternal and Infant Environmental Health Riskscape (MIEHR) Research Center will address this disparity to broaden the research base and enhance the Center’s impact. The IDC will support professional development of investigators from health disparity populations interested in environmental health disparities research. The Objective of the IDC is to stimulate, sponsor and support impactful research that addresses environmental health disparities and promotes collaborative research among investigators from multiple disciplines. The IDC will build on partnerships between Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and Texas Southern University (TSU), one of the nation’s largest historically black universities in the nation, to recruit, support and mentor post-doctoral and clinical fellows, as well as junior faculty, to pursue research in maternal and infant environmental health. By supporting high-risk, high-impact pilot projects that explore new avenues for research, respond to time-sensitive research opportunities, especially as they relate to disasters, and generate preliminary data to strengthen grant applications through other funding mechanisms, the IDC will promote career development in health disparity populations and foster collaborative research that integrates investigators with multiple skills and talents. Key evaluative metrics of the Core will be related to how the pilot projects ultimately help launch careers and address disparities in environmental health. Hence, the IDC is pivotal to enhance the environmental health identity and impact of the MIEHR Center research, and in addressing the gap in environmental health disparities researchers from health disparity populations.