RALEIGH, N.C., Nov. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- The Institute for Health, Social, and Community Research (IHSCR) at Shaw University has been awarded a five-year research grant for $4,116,437 from the National Institutes of Health, National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD). The grant will be used to implement The Shaw NCMHD Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) Project.

The RIMI Program is designed to establish a research capacity-building infrastructure program, with benchmarks for training students, and developing a cadre of clinical, biomedical and behavioral research scientists who possess the skills, knowledge and abilities to engage in leading, cutting-edge and innovative research and training that will ultimately contribute to reducing and eliminating health disparities in the United States. The RIMI Program encourages the facilitation and integration of teaching and research at predominantly minority-serving academic institutions, with the aim of developing sustainable research programs, and enhancing the overall quality of the educational experience for students in the life sciences and related areas.

"The IHSCR is pleased to receive this award. It will provide a wealth of research infrastructure enhancement activities for Shaw University," said Dr. Daniel L. Howard, Director of the IHSCR. He added, "This award will contribute to a greater research-intensive atmosphere at Shaw, provide more research opportunities for faculty and students, improve research productivity, and provide expanded research training opportunities for promising students at Shaw."

The award will also develop the new Center for Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and supplement the Health Services Resource Library within the new state-of-the-art research facility on Shaw's campus.

Faculty and students will be involved in a variety of training and workshop sessions to increase skills in research practice, including study design, research literature review, data collection and analysis, and manuscript preparation for publication. Skilled researchers from Shaw and other research institutions will engage faculty and students in methodological and analytical exercises to improve research skills. Shaw University will expand its capacity with this award to join other academic institutions, researchers, health care practitioners, public health program managers, funders and policy makers, who are working collaboratively to explain the causes for and solutions to health disparities in the United States.