SUNY Downstate Awarded $10 Million from National Institutes of Health
Oct 9, 2017
Funding Will Go to Health Disparities Program to Research Minority Health Disparities & Train More Minority Researchers and Scientists;
First Major Award for Downstate under Tenures of SUNY Chancellor Kristina Johnson and President Wayne Riley
Brooklyn, NY – SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University has been awarded a $10 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to form a translational health disparities research program, with a focus on recruiting and training underrepresented minority scientists.
Funding will provide resources for junior faculty endowments, research fellowships, and recruitment of underrepresented minority students from area partner colleges to study translational health disparities and population health research. This is the first major endowment awarded to the Downstate campus under the tenures of both SUNY Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson and SUNY Downstate President Dr. Wayne J. Riley.
“Minority communities that are vulnerable to health disparities are often the same groups that are underrepresented in biomedical research,” SUNY Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson said. “It is SUNY’s responsibility as a public institution of higher learning to identify solutions to this imbalance and create opportunities for more minority researchers to pursue their passion in the medical professions in the state of New York. It is only fitting that SUNY lead the way, and I thank President Riley and the team at SUNY Downstate for attracting the funding needed to support this innovative program.”
The TRANSPORT Program funded by the award will be led by principal investigators Carlos N. Pato, MD, dean of the College of Medicine at Downstate; President Wayne J. Riley, MD, MPH, MBA, MACP; and Moro O. Salifu, MD, MPH, MBA, MACP, chair of medicine and a director of BHDC.
“We must train and employ more minority researchers to study the problem of minority health disparities,” SUNY Downstate President Riley said. “The TRANSPORT program at Downstate is an important step in advancing social justice and addressing racial and ethnic disparities through our public institutions. This program is just another proud achievement for the SUNY System. I am confident that through this effort, we will begin to create new generations of researchers to study obstacles to access, education, and equity that disproportionately impact minorities and are pervasive in health care.”
SUNY Downstate’s TRANSPORT program was awarded the $10 million endowment over six years by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health. The endowment will enable the TRANSPORT program to support as many as three new faculty and six research fellows per year, and, as the program reaches full capacity, recruit 25 new underrepresented minority students per year from area colleges.
TRANSPORT — or TRANSlational Program Of health disparities Research Training – builds on previous work done at SUNY Downstate focused on increasing diversity and allocating resources to study the causes of racial disparities in healthcare. The TRANSPORT program is partly a continuation of successful programs such as the annual PRIDE Summer Institute (PRogram to Increase Diversity Among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research) and the ongoing work of the Brooklyn Health Disparities Center (BHDC). The program will emphasize the development of translational, real-world solutions to address these challenges.
The Summer Institute PRogram to Increase Diversity Among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research (PRIDE) is an all-expense-paid research career advancement opportunity sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. BHDC is a partnership between SUNY Downstate, the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, and the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President.
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About SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University
Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn is one of four academic health centers (AMCs) in The State University of New York (SUNY) 64-campus system and the only SUNY AMC in New York City dedicated to health education, research, and patient care for the borough’s 2.7 million residents. Its flagship hospital, University Hospital at Downstate (UHD), is a teaching hospital and benefits from the expertise of Downstate’s exceptional medical school and world-class academic center research facilities. With a staff of over 800 physicians representing 53 specialties and subspecialties, Downstate offers comprehensive healthcare services to the community.
UHD provides high-risk neonatal and infant services, pediatric nephrology, and dialysis for kidney diseases and is the only kidney transplantation program in Brooklyn. Beyond its clinical expertise, Downstate houses a range of esteemed educational institutions, including its College of Medicine, College of Nursing, School of Health Professions, School of Graduate Studies, and School of Public Health. Downstate fosters innovation through its multifaceted biotechnology initiative, the Biotechnology Incubator and BioBAT, which support early-stage and more mature biotech companies.