NIMHD Centers of Excellence in Investigator Development and Community Engagement
COE Grants for NIH Guide No: RFA-MD-23-011
The NIMHD Centers of Excellence program, authorized by the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-525), has played a vital role in realizing NIMHD’s mission to support research in minority health and health disparities, promote research training, disseminate research findings, and foster innovative collaborations and partnerships.
Research Objectives
Tackling the complex drivers of health disparities requires a well-trained scientific workforce and a transdisciplinary framework that cuts across scientific and organizational silos to integrate multiple disciplines, including biology, behavioral and social sciences, epidemiology, data science, public health, health services, economics, clinical science, and public policy. It also requires strong collaborations between researchers, community organizations, health service providers, public health agencies, policymakers, and other stakeholders to ensure that relevant, contextually appropriate research is conducted and, more importantly, that findings can be translated into sustainable community and system-level changes.
This initiative seeks to facilitate the training of researchers, including those underrepresented in biomedical research to pursue clinical research, translational, and/or patient-oriented research, particularly on diseases that disproportionately impact populations that experience health disparities.
The Investigator Development Core offers career enhancement activities for investigators at all faculty levels and collaborating institutions, including postdoctoral fellows and junior investigators. Resources may support seminars, workshops, and/or other activities that promote the recruitment, advancement, and retention of investigators in biomedical, behavioral, social, and clinical research relevant to minority health and health disparities. The Investigator Development Core also supports a pilot project program that provides opportunities for postdoctoral fellows, junior faculty, and other early-stage investigators to develop research training skills and expertise in minority health and health disparities as well as to support awardees to ensure successful completion of projects to publication of results and submission of subsequent grant applications. NIMHD encourages projects that use approaches encompassing multiple domains of influence (e.g., biological, behavioral, sociocultural, environmental, physical environment, health system) and multiple levels of influence (e.g., individual, interpersonal, family, peer group, community, societal) to understand and address health disparities (see the NIMHD Research Framework for more information). The Community Engagement and Dissemination Core facilitates collaborative and sustainable relationships with community partner organizations, relevant service organizations, and the scientific community in the dissemination of findings from pilot projects and strategic planning about how to translate research findings into sustainable community and system-level changes.
Page updated March 21, 2025
