Charles Drew University Medical Science Institute
| The Medical Sciences Institute (MSI) will play a significant role in the future of medical research at CDU. The University currently receives more than $24 million in NIH funding annually and another $11 million from other varied sources to conduct basic and clinical research. Much of this research is targeted for priority healthcare issues that disproportionately affect ethnic minorities and low-income populations. |
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The MSI will provide new pathways to research discoveries at CDU through creating research
teams of the future and re-engineering the clinical research enterprise in a highly structured system. By doing so, we improve the recruitment and retention of junior and senior researchers who pursue NIH funding for desperately needed research that have the greatest potential for impacting care for at risk populations in underserved areas throughout the world.
The MSI will provide an optimal environment for intellectual exchange and partnership in research. In this environment, research faculty benefit from improved communication and a sharing of resources, which ultimately improves effectiveness and efficiency in addressing health disparities.
Illnesses like diabetes, hypertension, cancer, chronic kidney disease, neuro-psychiatric disorders and HIV/AIDS are top priorities because they claim more lives in low-income and minority communities than they do in the general population. During the past twenty years, CDU researchers have pioneered many discoveries related to these health disparity areas.
In the last seven years, CDU increased its NIH funding by more than 300 percent. The $35 million MSI endowment base provides researchers with support previously unavailable at CDU.
This new organizational structure and endowment foundation will serve as a starting point for the next phase in growth for the CDU research enterprise. By 2012, our goal is to raise more than $100 million in endowed funds for long-term support of research that ultimately improves the health of all underserved and disadvantaged people facing devastating disease and illness.
