RCMI International Symposium on Health Disparities
November 12-15, 2000
San Juan, Puerto Rico

About the RCMI Program

The Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program in the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) is congressionally mandated and was initiated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1985. The authorizing legislation for the Program called attention to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Secretary’s Task Force annual report on the status of the health of the American people and noted the disparities in the health status between minority and majority Americans. The legislation also acknowledged the important role that minority educational institutions have traditionally played in training professionals who provide health care to the minority commUnity. Implicit in the legislative language is the major role that we must play in order for the NIH to address the health needs of the entire United States citizenry. Through the enhancement of the research capacity of RCMI-eligible institutions for the conduct of state-of-the-art biomedical and/or behavioral research, this mandate can be achieved.

The mission of the RCMI Program is to expand the national capability for research in the health sciences by assisting, through grant support, predominantly minority institutions that offer the doctorate in the health professions and/or behavioral research relevant to the mission of the Public Health Service (PHS).

The NCRR now provides support to nineteen institutions through the RCMI Program. The RCMI grantee institutions currently include seven schools of medicine, three colleges of pharmacy, eight graduate schools and one school of veterinary medicine. They are located primarily in urban centers in Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi, Louisiana, New York, Tennessee, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

In addition to providing direct support to the grantees through a line item in the congressional appropriation, the RCMI Program has developed other mechanisms and is continually pursuing additional ways to enhance opportunities for faculty at grantee institutions to interact with key staff, to collaborate with investigators supported by other NIH components and PHS agencies, and to participate in the agency’s funded programs. Noteworthy among these efforts is the collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the National Institute on Dental Cranifacial Research (NIDCR), the National Institute of Diabetes and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).

Through the RCMI Program and the collaborations referenced above, the NCRR is developing a competitive research environment at minority institutions which should attract highly qualified faculty in very specialized areas such as molecular biology, neuroscience, renal physiology, retro-virology, pharmacology, immunogenetics and neonatology. This expanded faculty expertise will position RCMI institutions to address research questions that are germane to their indigenous populations as well as the nation as a whole.

This Seventh RCMI Symposium will be expanded to include not only AIDS, but other areas as well. Other RCMI sponsored Symposia have been hosted by Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee; Hunter College, New York; the University of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, Universidad Central del Caribe and Ponce School of Medicine, Puerto Rico.

The long-range goal of this, as well as all RCMI-sponsored symposia and workshops, is to provide a forum where discussions can be initiated or ideas stimulated that will ultimately lead to collaboration. This should enable the nation’s research scientists to address the health needs of the entire United States citizenry as well as the world community.