About RCMI

Background

The Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program in the Division of Research Infrastructure at the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) is a congressionally mandated program initiated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1985. The authorizing legislation for the program highlighted the findings of the annual report from the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Task Force on the health status of the American people and noted major health disparities between minority and majority Americans.The legislation alsoacknowledged the important role that minority educational institutions have traditionally played in training professionals who then go on to provide health care to the minority community. Implicit in the legislative language is the major role that minority institutions must play in order for the NIH to address the health needs of the entire US population. It is believed that this mandate can be achieved by enhancing the research capacities of
RCMI-eligible institutions so that they might better conduct state-of-the-art biomedical and/or behavioral research.

The RCMI Program provides, on a competitive basis, a wide array of support to eligible institutions that assists them in developing their biomedical research infrastructure. This has enabled them to contribute to the knowledge base that is needed to address the causes, the effects, and the prevention of human suffering.

Currently, 18 institutions are recipients of grants through the RCMI Program. Included among them are seven medical schools, three pharmaceutical colleges, seven graduate schools, and one school of veterinary medicine; they are located in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, Hawaii, Tennessee, California, Texas, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia.

In addition to providing direct support to enhance institutional research infrastructures, the RCMI Program continues to develop other mechanisms for pursuing new and innovative ways to increase opportunities for faculty at RCMI grantee institutions to interact with key staff, collaborate with investigators supported by other NIH components and PHS agencies, and to join with the biomedical research community to push back the frontier of biomedicine. Through the enhancement of the biomedical and/or behavioral research capacity of eligible institutions, the RCMI Program mandate is being achieved.



		The RCMI Program at Ponce School of Medicine was established in 1985. It has transformed PSM from a teaching medical school to a vigorous Research Center. Recently acquired state-of- the-art instrumentation has vastly expanded the scope of current research activities as well as stimulating both faculty and student research development. Several new research faculty members have been recruited and their contributions have enabled us to further expand the scope of our research. Currently, Research programs at PSM include: AIDS Research Program, neuroscience, human genetic, asthma research, cancer research, alcohol/drug-related research, toxicology, and the reproductive sciences, to name but a few. Moreover, infrastructure support from the RCMI Program was crucial to the development of the graduate PhD program in Biomedical Sciences, which became fully accredited by the Council of Higher Education of Puerto Rico in May of 1992.
	Background The Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program in the Division of Research Infrastructure at the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) is a congressionally mandated program initiated by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1985. The authorizing legislation for the program highlighted the findings of the annual report from the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Task Force on the health status of the American people and noted major health disparities between minority and majority Americans.The legislation alsoacknowledged the important role that minority educational institutions have traditionally played in training professionals who then go on to provide health care to the minority community. Implicit in the legislative language is the major role that minority institutions must play in order for the NIH to address the health needs of the entire US population. It is believed that this mandate can be achieved by enhancing the research capacities of RCMI-eligible institutions so that they might better conduct state-of-the-art biomedical and/or behavioral research. The RCMI Program provides, on a competitive basis, a wide array of support to eligible institutions that assists them in developing their biomedical research infrastructure. This has enabled them to contribute to the knowledge base that is needed to address the causes, the effects, and the prevention of human suffering. Currently, 18 institutions are recipients of grants through the RCMI Program. Included among them are seven medical schools, three pharmaceutical colleges, seven graduate schools, and one school of veterinary medicine; they are located in Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, New York, Hawaii, Tennessee, California, Texas, Puerto Rico, and the District of Columbia. In addition to providing direct support to enhance institutional research infrastructures, the RCMI Program continues to develop other mechanisms for pursuing new and innovative ways to increase opportunities for faculty at RCMI grantee institutions to interact with key staff, collaborate with investigators supported by other NIH components and PHS agencies, and to join with the biomedical research community to push back the frontier of biomedicine. Through the enhancement of the biomedical and/or behavioral research capacity of eligible institutions, the RCMI Program mandate is being achieved. Back to Top
	Goals & Objectives The Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program was initiated in order to enhance the research capacity and infrastructure at minority colleges and universities that offer doctorates in health sciences. Graduate institutions eligible to apply for the RCMI grants must have one or more underrepresented minority groups that comprise 50 percent or greater of their student body representation and offer doctorate degrees in the health-related sciences. RCMI support is provided by the NCRR Division of Research Infrastructure (DRI) and is used, in part, to recruit established and promising researchers, acquire advanced instrumentation, modify laboratories for competitive research, fund core research facilities, and support other research efforts. Because many investigators at RCMI institutions study diseases that disproportionately affect minorities, NCRR assistance is intended to serve the dual purposes of bringing more minority scientists into mainstream research and enhancing studies of minority health. The DRI also funds the RCMI Clinical Research Infrastructure Initiative. This initiative supports clinical research activities at institutions that have RCMIs to encourage minority scientists to participate in clinical investigations.
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