The purpose of this proposal is to request funds to continue the expansion of the research program of the Howard University Health Sciences Center. Included are research protocols from representative faculty of the Colleges of Medicine, Nursing and Pharmacy & Pharmacal Sciences. The principal investigators are distributed according to departments as follows: 1) College of Medicine- Departments of Medicine, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Pediatrics and Child Health, Surgery, and the Center for Sickle Cell Disease; 2) College of Nursing- Department of Community and Mental Health Nursing; and 3) College of Pharmacy and Pharmacal Sciences- Department of Medicinal Chemistry. The primary goal of the program is to continue existing MBRS supported programs and to initiate new research activities in departments whose faculty have not traditionally participated in Biomedical Research. Of the 13 subprojects in this proposal; five (5) were submitted by faculty currently funded by the MBRS program and eight (8) are from faculty who are not currently receiving MBRS support. The majority (10/13) of the principal investigators are physician investigators. Interdisciplinary as well as disciplinary collaboration between clinical and basic scientists therefore, continues to be the central theme of this MBRS program. A secondary goal of the program is to actively involve health professional students, on a short term basis, in biomedical research. It is anticipated that the continued interactions between clinical investigators and health professional students will serve as an incentive for such students to seriously consider academic medicine as a career. An additional expected outcome is that diligent pursuit of the research goals described in this application will result in an increase in the number of Health Sciences Center faculty with competitive R01 type grants from both public and private grantors.
