Investigator Development Core

摘要 历史上和几个世纪以来，非裔美国人一直是受健康差距影响最大的群体之一，因为 他们的死亡率、婴儿死亡率以及其他长寿和生活质量指标都明显较高。 我们国家最严重和持续的不平等之一影响到非裔美国妇女及其子女，他们 承受着母婴死亡率和其他妇幼健康指标不佳的压倒性负担 与健康相关的生活质量。也有充分的证据表明，少数族裔，特别是非裔美国人， 在获得生物科学博士学位的个人中代表性很低(例如，只有大约 3%是非洲裔美国人，尽管他们占全国人口的12%以上)。非洲-- 美国人在NIH的校内和校外资金方面也处于不成比例的劣势 在全国范围内获奖。在NIH的全部资金中，只有1.4%由非裔美国人PI获得，而 随着时间的推移，情况并没有得到改善。解决这一巨大的独立资金短缺的途径 非洲裔美国研究人员正在通过一个项目解决健康差距问题，同时支持 来自代表性不足的少数族裔的初出茅庐的调查人员。调查员开发核心(IDC)是 母婴环境健康风险(MIEHR)研究的关键机制 中心将解决这一差距，以扩大研究基础并增强中心的影响力。国际数据中心将 支持对环境感兴趣的健康差距人群的调查人员的专业发展 健康差距研究。国际数据中心的目标是鼓励、赞助和支持有影响力的研究 解决环境健康差距，并促进来自 多学科。IDC将建立在贝勒医学院(BCM)和德克萨斯州之间的合作伙伴关系上 南方大学(TSU)，美国历史上最大的黑人大学之一，招生， 支持和指导博士后和临床研究员以及初级教员从事孕产妇研究 和婴儿的环境健康。通过支持探索新途径的高风险、高影响的试点项目 对于研究，应对时间敏感的研究机会，特别是与灾害有关的研究机会，以及 生成初步数据以通过其他资助机制加强赠款申请，国际数据中心将 促进健康差距人群的职业发展，促进合作研究 具有多种技能和才能的调查人员。核心的关键评估指标将与试点如何相关 项目最终有助于启动职业生涯并解决环境健康方面的差距。因此，IDC是至关重要的 加强MIEHR中心研究的环境健康认同感和影响，并解决 环境健康差距研究人员从健康差距人群中得出结论。

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.