San Francisco State University (SFSU) requests funds for the renewal, continuation and expansion of our highly successful M-RISP program, currently in the second year of its initial three-year funding. The goal of the program is to enhance the institutional capacity of SFSU by conducting mental health research projects that are responsive to NIMH priorities and can potentially be funded through regular R01 and R03 mechanisms. Situated within an academic institution committed to ethnic diversity and responsive to the needs of ethnic minority communities, our M-RISP program emphasizes research that addresses mental health disparities among ethnic minority groups in the United States. In addition, we aim to increase the number of ethnic minority Principal Investigators funded by NIMH. To achieve these goals, we propose to conduct a set of faculty mentoring, networking, and institutional development activities, many of which have been piloted successfully within our current M-RISP program, including the implementation of structured """"""""proposal development groups"""""""" and methodological/statistical workshops. Through intramural competitions, we will select 12 junior faculty members and mentor them in the development of mental health research proposals to be submitted extramurally. We will also support the implementation of four new individual faculty projects that address mental health concerns in African American, Latino, Asian and Native American populations. The results obtained from these four projects will be incorporated as preliminary studies in future R01 submissions by the four investigators. ? ? All activities will be conducted under the direction of Dr. Rafael Diaz, M-RISP Program Director, a developmental psychologist whose research has been funded by different institutes at NIH for the past 10 years. The M-RISP will be co-directed by Dr. John Rogers, a social psychologist and methodologist with ample experience in the use of quantitative and qualitative methodologies, as well as in survey and experimental designs. ? ?
