The purpose of the Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) Program is to expand the national capacity for research in the health sciences by providing cooperative agreement support to institutions that offer doctorate degrees in the health professions or in a health-related science and have
a historical and current commitment to educating underrepresented students, and for institutions that deliver health care services, providing clinical services to medically underserved communities.
The primary goals of the RCMI specialized centers are to:
(1) enhance institutional research capacity within the areas of basic biomedical, behavioral, and/or clinical research; (2) enable all levels of investigators to become more successful in obtaining competitive extramural support, especially from NIH, particularly on diseases that disproportionately impact minority and other health disparity populations; (3) foster environments conducive to career enhancement with a special emphasis on development of new and early career investigators; (4) enhance the quality of all scientific inquiry and promote research on minority health and health disparities; and (5) establish sustainable relationships with community-based organizations that will partner with the RCMI Institution.