The Meharry Medical College (MMC) SCORE Program seeks to effect sustained improvement of the institutional research environment and to enhance the ability of the faculty to conduct competitive biomedical and behavioral research.  The long-range goal is to increase the number of individuals from groups underrepresented in the sciences who are competitively engaged in biomedical and behavioral research with an emphasis on reducing health disparities and increasing the capacity of MMC to train such individuals. To that end, MMC has initiated bold strategic steps to: 1) strenthen the basic science research base, 2) increase interdisciplinary collaborations from bench to bedside to the community in our signature areas of brain and behavior, cancer, HIV/AIDS and women’s health, and 3) improve and expand the personnel and physical infrastructure for the conduct of translational and clinical research.

It is proposed to use SCORE supported activities synergistically with other extramural and intramural sponsored research development programs to achieve the following institutional research-related measurable objectives by 2011:

1. To increase the number of  peer-reviewed publications by 40% from a baseline of approximately 199 papers published between 2002 and 2006;
2. To increase the number of investigator-initiated (“R” series or equivalent) research grants to greater than 20 from a baseline of 10. 
3. To increase the level of investigator initiated extramural research funding from $8M to greater than $20M; and
4. To increase total research funding from approximately $25M to $50M.

To facilitate these objectives, the SCORE Program is assisting in establishing a Human Research Subjects Recruitment Core which will be used by a number of emerging clinical investigators whom have SCORE funding or pending applications.  The Program also co-sponsors a number of faculty development activities including a “Bridges to Independence” program, a seminar and visiting scientist program and a grantsmanship workshop series.

It is anticipated that these initiatives will booster MMC’s capacity to positively impact the health disparity gap while contributing significantly to training the next generation of biomedical and physician scientists.