Specific Aim 1.
To coordinate and implement training and mentoring activities focused on increasing the research competitiveness of early stage investigators, mid-career faculty and research scientists. Multiple activities and processes will link early stage investigators, mid-career faculty and research scientists to the resources of the Xavier RCMI program as well as other program resources at Xavier with the single goal of building strong collaborative research programs that will be competitive for achieving external funding. Efforts will also include broadening the diversity of the biomedical research pool. Accomplishment of this aim will result in more early stage investigators at Xavier participating in mentored collaborations involving established researchers, more high-quality publications, more competitive applications for external grant funding and ultimately more research awards, particularly those addressing health disparities issues.
Specific Aim 2.
To establish a pilot project program focused on early career investigators working in collaboration with an established mentor and/or collaborator to develop research capacity and competitiveness by generating preliminary data for subsequent external grant applications.
The goal of this program is to support early stage investigators at Xavier to generate preliminary data for submission of grant applications, particularly those that focus on research related to diseases that disproportionately impact minority or other disparity populations, or that address health disparities. Involvement of minority faculty will be highly encouraged. This program will involve competitive pilot funding for up to three years of support and include mentors/collaborators as active participants in the pilot research as well as the resulting publications and external grant applications. Accomplishment of this aim will result in more early stage Xavier faculty obtaining high quality and significant preliminary data that will be incorporated into competitive external grant applications.