James G. Townsel, Ph.D. Principal Investigator	James E. K. Hildreth, M.D., Ph.D. Program Director

The RCMI Program (http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/resinfra/ri_rcmi.asp) is supported by the Division of Research Infrastructure of the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) at the NIH. The goal is to expand the research capacity of the nation by improving the human and physical research resources at doctoral degree granting institutions that have a 50% or greater enrollment of students who are underrepresented in the biomedical sciences.
 
Meharry Medical College successfully competed for one of the first RCMI awards and since then has had more than 20 years of uninterrupted funding. The RCMI Program supports the infrastructure of shared resources across the campus including the Office for Research Support Services, the Library, Information Technology, and various research core facilities. Of the current Meharry faculty, 18 were hired through the RCMI Program.

The RCMI also has supported Meharry’s research infrastructure in multiple scientific areas including neuroscience, cancer cell biology, environmental health and toxicology, infectious diseases, and oral biology. The focus of the current proposal is women’s health and the Center for Women’s Health Research at Meharry. 

The three focus areas funded by the RCMI Parent Grant are: 1) Recruitment Core, 2) Pilot Projects, and 3) Core Facilities. Pilot grant proposals are solicited from Meharry faculty whose work focus on Women’s Health Research. To be considered for pilot funding, faculty are asked to write a brief letter of intent. Upon consideration of the letters of intent by the Research Council (IAC), those that are deemed competitive enough are then asked to write full proposals that may be sent out for external pre-review. Finally the most competitive applications are included in the Parent Application.