The University of Montana, College of Health Professions and Biomedical Sciences (formerly School of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences) has a long-standing history and commitment to the recruitment and training of minority students (principally American Indians) for degrees in pharmacy and physical therapy. In the past five years (largely due to NCMHD-Endowment Grant support) the College has recruited both Hispanic and African American faculty, has admitted both American Indian and Hispanic students into Ph.D. training programs, and has increased its focus on health disparities research. Research infrastructure and training capacity has increased to the point where the College is ranked 5th of over 100 colleges/schools of pharmacy in the nation in NIH grant funding per Ph.D. faculty. The College has developed two NIH-COBRE funded Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence and now offers three Ph.D. and three M.S. programs. The College has increased infrastructure and capacity through the HHS Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP), the Native American Center of Excellence (NACOE) Program, the NIH-Bridges to Baccalaureate Program (BRIDGES), the NSF-EPSCoR Program, the two NIH-COBRE Center programs, and the NCMHD-Endowment program. The increased capacity to enhance health disparities research and minority recruitment and training is rationale for the following objectives: Priority One - Creation of a more substantial health disparities research emphasis;Priority Two -Addition of American Indian faculty;Priority Three - Enhancement of the recruitment and education/training of minorities at the professional and graduate levels;Priority Four - Formation of additional partnerships that foster both minority recruitment and health disparities research;and Priority Five - Utilization of Endowment Grant resources to leverage additional support. This proposal is submitted as a competitive continuation of 1 S21-MD000236.
| Calderón-Garcidueñas, Lilian; Cross, Janet V; Franco-Lira, Maricela et al. (2013) Brain immune interactions and air pollution: macrophage inhibitory factor (MIF), prion cellular protein (PrP(C)), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), and interleukin-2 (IL-2) in cerebrospinal fluid and MIF in serum differenti Front Neurosci 7:183 |
