Clinical Research Education and Career Development (CRECD)

Program Description

The CRECD awards help minority-serving institutions develop and implement curriculum-dependent degree programs to train doctoral and postdoctoral candidates in clinical research. The awards provide didactic training and mentored clinical research experiences to early-career investigators.

CRECD awards aim to support creative and innovative research education programs that promote the development of well-trained clinical researchers who can lead clinical and translational research. Supported programs must lead to a master of science degree in clinical research or a master of public health degree in a clinically relevant area.

The CRECD program is funded by NIMHD, the National Institute on Aging, the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Goals

• Expand the national capability to improve diversity for research in the health sciences by developing the research workforce in clinical and translational sciences
• Develop a diverse group of clinical researchers who have the necessary knowledge and skills to pursue clinical research and can become part of translational and/or patient-oriented research, particularly on diseases that disproportionately affect minority populations

Eligibility

The CRECD program supports projects at private and public academic institutions and nonprofit organizations.

Applicants must be minority institutions that award doctoral degrees in the health professions or the sciences related to health. Applicant institutions must demonstrate that their historical mission is to educate individuals from racial and ethnic groups that have been shown by the National Science Foundation to be underrepresented in biomedical research (i.e., African Americans or Blacks, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, Hispanic or Latino Americans, and persons with disabilities) and that the majority of the health professional graduates provide health-related care to minority communities.

The eligible minority institutions must include medical, dental, nursing, or pharmacy schools accredited to award master's and doctoral graduate degrees or research institutions with graduate education programs that have ongoing clinical research and clinical research training programs.

The institution must be accredited to award a master of science degree in clinical research or a master of public health degree in a clinically relevant area or demonstrate the commitment and capability to develop a core curriculum leading to an accredited master of science degree in clinical research or an accredited master of public health degree in a clinically relevant area.

Page updated April 24, 2023