Honoring the legacy of former congressional leader and civil rights icon John Lewis, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) has recently awarded grants to six institutions through the John Lewis NIMHD Research Endowment Program. Totaling $60 million, these esteemed grants will create institutional endowments that propel the development and expansion of the research capacity and infrastructure within the recipient institutions. Additionally, the institutional endowments will support research education for students, including those underrepresented in science, and encourage faculty members to pursue research in basic biomedical, behavioral, population, and clinical/health services fields.
This is a unique federal program with the potential to significantly fortify the growth and development of research programs in minority health and health disparities. The awards are made to institutional endowments, and the institutions support programs through the annual income realized from the endowment, creating sustainable programs long after the funding stops. During the five-year grant, the institutions grow their endowment corpus, which must be maintained and not spent for twenty years after the grant’s project period end date, but the annual income generated will continue to support programmatic activity each year. Among the program’s specific objectives are:
- Improving the institutional, physical infrastructure and research equipment acquisition.
- Developing research-enabling technical expertise.
- Expansion of academic programs.
- Recruitment of highly qualified investigators.
Initial awards for this program were made in 2001 under the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education Act of 2000. On March 18, 2022, NIMHD Director Dr. Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, along with NIH Acting Director Dr. Lawrence Tabak, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and congressional leaders, joined President Joe Biden at the White House to sign the John Lewis NIMHD Research Endowment Revitalization Act of 2021. The new law expanded eligibility for the NIMHD Research Endowment Program (REP) to include former in addition to current NIMHD and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Centers of Excellence. Due to his long-standing support for the NIMHD Research Endowment Program, it was renamed in honor of the late Congressman John Lewis.
Page updated March 21, 2025