Meharry RCMI Program in Women's Health Research

该RCMI计划更新申请的长期目标是扩大和提高妇女健康研究的能力，包括Meharry医学院（MMC）的艾滋病毒/艾滋病，特别强调那些对有色人种妇女影响不成比例的疾病。许多报告记录了白人妇女和有色人种妇女，特别是非洲裔美国人（AA）和西班牙裔妇女之间的健康状况差异。在当前的应用程序中，我们寻求通过为最近聘请的两名RCMI调查员提供持续支持来提高MMC的妇女健康研究能力。P. Gangula博士将继续他对糖尿病胃轻瘫的研究，糖尿病胃轻瘫在女性中的发病率是男性的4倍。伊斯梅尔将研究人类单核细胞埃里希体病在怀孕期间的免疫调节。我们计划招募三名心理健康/行为科学调查员，以增加妇女健康研究的这一层面。在试点项目核心：X博士。董将研究HIV-1的组装，S。海德尔将研究维生素D缺乏症和子宫肌瘤的AA妇女和博士。Thota将寻求基因多态性与早产中维生素D缺乏症的相关性。一个强大的资深科学家团队将为所有RCMI研究人员提供强大的指导和教师发展经验。两个现有的核心设施（蛋白质组学和基因组学和BL 3/流式细胞术）将合并/升级，并将开发一个新的核心设施（女性组织采集核心）。RCMI计划将与其他MMC研究计划和RTRN网络对接，以扩大和增强研究人员的资源和机会。当前申请的具体目标是：1）在奖励期结束时，超过3年平均2篇同行评审出版物/年/RCMI研究者; 2）促进所有RCMI研究者在第3年支持之前提交赞助商发起的资助申请; 3）在奖励周期结束时，超过50%的RCMI研究者获得赞助商发起的支持;以及4）有书面证据证明RCMI支持的核心设施、生物信息学支持以及RTRN支持被适当地利用以实现上述成功。 公共卫生相关性（由申请人提供）：Meharry医学院的使命的一个主要组成部分是进行研究，促进消除健康差距，同时为下一代医疗保健提供者以及生物医学科学家和医生科学家的多样性做出重大贡献。本申请中要求的研究资源（人员和物质）将极大地促进这些目标的实现。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long range goal of this RCMI program renewal application is to expand and improve the capacity for women's health research, including HIV/AIDS at Meharry Medical College (MMC), placing particular emphasis on those diseases that disproportionately impact women of color. Numerous reports have documented differences in health status between Caucasian women and women of color, particularly African American (AA) and Hispanic Women. In the current application we seek to increase the capacity for women's health research at MMC by providing ongoing support for two recently hired RCMI investigators. Dr. P. Gangula will continue his studies on diabetic gastroparesis, which has a 4-times greater incidence in women, and Dr. N. Ismail will study immune regulation of human monocytic ehrlichiosis during pregnancy. We plan to recruit three mental health/behavioral science investigators to add this dimension of women's health research. In the pilot project core: Dr. X. Dong will study HIV-1 assembly, Dr. S. Haider will study Vitamin D deficiency and uterine fibroids in AA women and Dr. C. Thota will seek to correlate gene polymorphism and hypovitaminosis D in preterm birth. A strong team of senior scientists will facilitate a robust mentoring and faculty development experience for all RCMI Investigators. Two existing core facilities (Proteomic and Genomic & BL3/Flow Cytometry) will be merged /upgraded and a new core facility (Female Tissue Acquisition Core) will be developed. The RCMI program will be interfaced with other MMC research programs and the RTRN network to expand and enhance the resources and opportunities for investigators. The specific aims of the current application are to 1) exceed a 3 year average of 2 peer-reviewed publications/year/RCMI Investigator by the end of the award period; 2) to facilitate submission of investigator-initiated grant applications by all RCMI Investigators prior to their 3rd year of support; 3) to exceed 50% of RCMI investigators acquiring investigator-initiated support by the end of the award cycle; and 4) to have documented evidence that RCMI supported core facilities, bioinformatics support, as well as RTRN support were appropriately leveraged to achieve the above successes. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE (provided by applicant): A major component of the mission of Meharry Medical College is to conduct research that fosters the elimination of health disparities while contributing significantly to the diversity of the next generation of health care providers as well as biomedical scientists and physician-scientists. The research resources (personnel and physical) requested in this application will greatly facilitate the accomplishment of these goals.