The City University of New York (CUNY) School of Medicine has been awarded a $19.3 million grant over five years from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to create a center focused on addressing the interrelated problems of underserved communities.
This is the largest National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant awarded to CUNY in its history. The New York Center for Minority Health Equity and Social Justice (NYC-MHESJ) at CUNY is part of the National Institute of Minority Health and Disparities (NIMHD), Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) network, and will be the only RCMI in the northern United States.
Conceptualized and led by Carmen Renée Green, MD, Dean of the CUNY School of Medicine, along with Maria Lima, PhD, Associate Dean for Research and Chief Research Officer, and other school leaders, this new Center is anchored by the medical school’s location in Harlem and its historic commitment to serving the Harlem community and other Health Professional Shortage Areas across the city’s five boroughs and New York State. The Center’s focus will be on Harlem and the South Bronx where deep health and educational disparities exist and persist.
NYC-MHESJ’s tripartite mission is to:
1. Support a cadre of trained scientists engaging in rigorous mentored transdisciplinary minority health and health disparities research;
2. Increase the number, quality, and research capacity of minorities participating in and thriving in biomedical research careers, and
3. Advance minority health and health disparities research.
The Center is also creating strategic communications and implementing a dissemination plan focused on the multi-racial, -ethnic, -linguistic, and -cultural neighborhoods in Harlem, the South Bronx, and other underserved areas throughout NYC in an effort to create new knowledge and better translate findings into new solutions to improve health outcomes and create a more just NYC and society.
“The CUNY School of Medicine has long embodied the best of our university’s mission to expand opportunity for all New Yorkers through its efforts to diversify the health care workforce and confront health inequities,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, PhD.“Now, thanks to generous support from the National Institutes of Health, the Center for Minority Health, Equity and Social Justice will enable us to advance this mission by deepening our research expertise, expanding career opportunities in the field of bioresearch and, most critically, better enabling us to meet the needs of our neighbors across Harlem and the Bronx.”
Dean Green emphasized the critical need for the Center’s work. “The New York Center for Minority Health Equity and Social Justice represents a pivotal moment and step forward in our fight against health disparities and eliminating them. With this substantial NIH funding, we are poised to make a significant impact by supporting innovative research, fostering a diverse pool of researchers, and addressing the critical health needs of our community.”
Dean Green and Associate Dean Lima are the Principal Investigators for NYC-MHESJ and project-specific leaders are listed below.
A New Resource with an Historic Mission
Black and Latinx people are the majority of NYC’s population (52%) but are historically underrepresented in medicine and science and only represent 16% of NYC’s physician workforce and much fewer Black and Latinx people are actively involved in academic medicine, science, and research. The inaugural New York Center for Minority Health Equity and Social Justice (NYC-MHESJ) at CUNY is focused on addressing these long-standing disparities.
The new center will build an integrated ecosystem to tackle health disparities and foster partnerships with national networks, including NIMHD-funded RCMIs, NIH-funded Centers for Clinical and Translational Science (CTSAs) at Rutgers University and Rockefeller University, National Institute of Aging-funded Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research, the Einstein-Rockefeller-CUNY Center for AIDS Research (ERC-CFAR), CCNY-MSK Partnership, and National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Cancer Centers at Memorial Sloan Kettering, and Rutgers University, Federally Qualified Health Centers at the Institute for Family Health and Urban Health, and the Parkinson’s Foundation.
“Cells-to-Society” Approach Across Three Major Research Projects
Guided by a “cells to society” approach, NYC-MHESJ will leverage its five cores—Administrative Core, Community Engagement Core, Investigator Development Core, Research Capacity Core, and Recruitment Core—to build research capacity, strengthen collaborations, and deepen community connections. Its research portfolio includes three NIH R01-level projects:
· Basic Science: Developing therapeutic strategies for end-stage kidney disease affecting minority populations, led by Ryan Williams, PhD, Assistant Professor of Biomedical Engineering.
· Behavioral Health: Empowering Chinese American adolescents and parents with mental health resources, led by Wenhua Lu, PhD, Assistant Professor, Community Health and Social Medicine.
· Clinical Research: Enhancing Parkinson’s disease care and research participation within Latinx communities, led by Lice Ghilardi, MD, Professor, Molecular Cell Biomedical Sciences.
By recruiting and mentoring a cadre of researchers who reflect the racial, ethnic, cultural, and linguistic diversity of New York City itself, and advancing transdisciplinary research in health disparities, the Center will bridge the gap between scientific innovation and solutions to ensure equitable and optimal health for historically underserved communities. Visit the NYC-MHESJ website for additional background and updates.
The CUNY School of Medicine
The CUNY School of Medicine and Sophie Davis Biomedical Education Program in Harlem is distinguished among the nation’s 158 medical schools by its uniquely diverse and inclusive student body, its mission to make medical education accessible to historically underrepresented groups, commitment to primary care, and high-quality healthcare for underserved populations. CUNY Medicine uses a holistic application process that excludes the MCAT as a barrier to entry.
Built on the 50-year legacy of the Sophie Davis Biomedical Education Program, which delivered preclinical science and community health training to generations of minority students who were historically underrepresented in medicine, CUNY Medicine became an MD-granting institution in 2016, offering an innovative and highly competitive accelerated 7-year BS/MD program. It is also home to one of the nation’s oldest Physician Assistant programs. Under the leadership of Dean Carmen Renée Green, MD, who was appointed in 2021, the School is expanding its pathway and partnership programs into neighborhoods where access to medical education and medical professionals has been extremely limited. Currently, 67% of CUNY Medicine’s entering medical students are Black and Latinx, compared to just 16% of medical students nationwide.
Learn more at medicine.cuny.edu.
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