Research and Educational Advancement Center/Health

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In response to the RFA RR-O1-007 entitled "NCMHD Endowment Program for Increasing Research and Training Capacity in Section 736 Health Professions Schools" the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (DREW) seeks to establish an endowment that will create and sustain the DREW "Research & Educational Advancement Center for Health Disparities (REACH)." REACH will be a new component within the DREW Learning Resource Center (LRC). Specifically, REACH will enhance institutional infrastructure and programming for faculty development and the student Medical Thesis program, with an emphasis on health disparities research. The addition of a Medical Thesis program with an emphasis on health disparities at DREW will further bolster the research and academic foundation of our medical students. Over the last 5 years, DREW has graduated 97/110 (88%) underrepresented medical students and is presently the only medical school with a required primary care research project. REACH will combine a culturally sensitive research methodology curriculum with an active research experience in areas such as communitybased research, health outcome research, and research ethics in multicultural communities. REACH will provide these junior faculty and medical students with the tools to address health disparities as clinicians, researchers, health policy makers and/or community educators, and encourage the creation of novel and innovative ways to address these disparities. Thus, REACH will address the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Health Disparities Strategic Plan of training a pool of underrepresented junior faculty and medical students with a heightened sense of awareness of the critical areas where health care disparities exist. The proposed endowment will be managed through DREW's collaboration with University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) providing an established foundation of effective and sophisticated portfolio endowment management consistent with the highest level of standards in the nation. The endowment's portfolio is expected to generate a total annualized rate of return, net of fees, 5% greater than the rate of inflation as measured by the national consumer price index over a rolling 5-year period. The Foundation's spending policy governs the rate at which funds are released to fundholders for their current spending and is reviewed annually by the Finance Committe. To achieve its investment objectives, the Endowment portfolio will be allocated among a number of asset classes that may include domestic equity, domestic fixed income, international equity, venture capital and cash. The purpose of allocating the investment portfolio's asset classes is to ensure the proper level of diversification within the Endowment. This will ensure the fiscal solvency necessary for creating a self- sustaining program.