The main objective of this application is to establish a dual-faceted FAMU College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (COPPS) Biomedical Endowment Fund Program to address the health and educational disparities of minorities. The overall goal is to enhance and strengthen the existing biomedical research infrastructure of the College of Pharmacy. The Colleges propose to establish an Eminent Scholar Chair with support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and matching support from the state of Florida and the Biomedical Endowment Fund Program within the University.
The specific aims of this proposal are to: 1) attract an endowed eminent scholar within one of the biomedical disciplines; 2) increase the number of qualified economically-disadvantaged ethnic minority students enrolled in the health professions and graduate programs; 3) provide state-of-the-art laboratory equipment for instruction and research training; 4) retain biomedical faculty to strengthen the existing biomedical programs through faculty development; and 5) provide financial assistance to increase the minority representation in health sciences and biomedical research. FAMU has a proven track record in recruiting and graduating minority students. Annually, over 20% of the African-American Pharm.D's and 60% of the African-American Ph.D's in the pharmaceutical sciences completed their degree program at FAMU.
