The 18 Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) funded through the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) to enhance the research capabilities and strengthen the research environment in the biomedical and behavioral sciences in cooperative agreement with Meetings Plus Inc., seeks conference grant funding to support the biennial International Symposium on Health Disparities in years 2004, 2006 and 2008. The goal of this proposal is to enhance the research skills, scientific expertise, and facilitate collaborations of investigators and students at RCMI institutions through a series of scientific presentations and collaborative training workshops planned over a five-year period. Specifically, we plan to seek funding support for the planning, development and implementation of the Ninth International RCMI symposium on Health Disparities to be held in Baltimore, December 2004, the Tenth International RCMI symposium on Health Disparities in San Juan, Puerto Rico, December 2006 and the Eleventh International RCMI symposium on Health Disparities in Honolulu, Hawaii, December 2008. Our goal is to seek support for travel, meeting costs, advertising of the meeting, honoraria for noted scientists and Nobel Laureates who will serve as plenary speakers at these conferences and workshops, and for the publication of scientific manuscripts in refereed journals. We believe that these conferences and workshops are unique, in that they bring together minority investigators from the biomedical and behavioral sciences to engage in scientific dialog that affects health disparities and provide opportunities for minority investigators and students to interact with investigators at other RCMI institutions and with scientists, nationally and internationally. Therefore, by fulfilling the goal and objectives of this U13 cooperative agreement, the RCMI community will be better able to serve the health and well being of Americans, and thereby accomplish the congressional mandate and mission of this highly successful NIH/NCRR-sponsored/RCMI program.
