DSU celebrates $18.36 million federal research grant
Summary
Center will focus on health disparities in Kent and SussexDelaware State University has received a five-year, $18.36 million research grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that will support the establishment of the Interdisciplinary Health Equity Research Center on campus.This NIH funding is the largest research grant ever awarded to Delaware State University in its 131-year history, surpassing the previous record of $10.9 million received from the NIH in 2017 in support of the institutions Delaware Center for Neuroscience Research. Since 2016 the Universitys growth in federal research awards has doubled to $45 million.The grant awarded through the NIHs Research Centers in Minority Institutions Program will enable the center to bring together a group of interdisciplinary faculty researchers, some focused on investigating the social and behavioral determinants of health and others using biomedical approaches to study the health conditions that have a bigger impact on underserved populations.University President Tony Allen said the grant represents a continued and fundamental shift at the university. An exceptional interdisciplinary faculty who can focus on the most pressing, real-world scientific inquiry of our time and a commitment to bringing our intellectual capital faculty, staff and students to the communities we call home.According to Dr. Melissa Harrington, the Universitys associate vice president of Research and the co-principal investigator of the grant along with Dr. Sangeeta Gupta, Delaware is a state with significant health disparities and a large number of residents in poor health. The center will have a Community Engagement Core to help develop those collaborations and partnerships, and we will particularly target Kent and Sussex Counties as lower Delaware has been relatively understudied and underserved.The IHER Center will be able to recruit scientists with expertise in behavioral and social research related to health equity to join the Universitys interdisciplinary team of researchers. It will also provide opportunities to establish pilot grant programs for early-stage investigators for research related to understanding and eliminating health disparities.To make the research impactful and responsive to community needs, investigators will work with community partners to assess the needs of underrepresented populations in Kent and Sussex counties, as well as the existing resources and services already in place.