N.C. Central Gets $7.5 Million to Address Health Concerns

By Dominic McCarthy
Black College Wire

BBRI Director Ken Harewood plans to develop "state-of-the-art" research.

North Carolina Central University has received $7.5 million in federal money to support research and training related to cardiovascular disease, drug abuse, cancer and other health concerns of people of color. Some of the money will go to student training and community outreach.

In addition to the $7.5 million, an award of nearly $1.5 million comes from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to develop one of its NASA Centers for Excellence at the Biomedical-Biotechnology Research Institute. Through the new center, the institute is expected to recruit and train high school, undergraduate and graduate students for NASA-related research.

The five-year, $7.5 million award from the National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities http://ncmhd.nih.gov/ , part of the National Institutes of Health, is the largest single research grant the Durham, N.C., university has ever received.

The money is designed to strengthen the campus' Julius L. Chambers Biomedical-Biotechnology Research Institute, which opened in 1999. One component will help add 14 new employees, including four Ph.D.-level scientists, to its 32-person full-time staff.

A campus-based outreach program is to be created to provide community education on cardiovascular disease, risk factors and risk-reduction strategies, as well as education regarding substance use and abuse.

“After four years, this is where we need to be to generate visibility and support,” said Ken Harewood, director of the institute. “I’m overjoyed because we have been able to execute our plan to develop a state-of-the-art research institute ahead of schedule.”

Because of the grant, the institute expects to expand its research partnerships with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Duke University Medical Center’s Department of Human Genetics and Wake Forest University’s School of Medicine Department of Pharmacology and Physiology.

The new grant is not the only connection the campus has to the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Its director is John Ruffin, former dean of NCCU’s College of Arts and Sciences, named to the health post in January 2001.

According to the center's Web site, eligibility for the latest grant was determined by minority health disparity among an institution’s student population, and the institution’s demonstrated commitment to and effectiveness in recruiting, retaining and graduating these students from the institution’s educational programs.

Chancellor James H. Ammons said he was proud of the efforts of Harewood and his staff. “The BBRI is bringing in nearly $6.5 million annually,” said Ammons. “This grant will help to build our infrastructure and strengthen our partnerships with research institutions while creating more research opportunities for our students here at NCCU.”

The Biomedical-Biotechnology Research Institute is dedicated to the advancement of fundamental knowledge of human diseases, particularly those that disproportionately affect underrepresented minority groups.

Dominic McCarthy is a student at North Carolina Central University who writes for The Campus Echo.