FAMU Secures More Than $23 Million in NIH Grant Renewals to Bolster Health Disparities Research and Infrastructure

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.— Florida A&M University (FAMU) has secured the renewal of two major grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) aimed at strengthening health disparities research and expanding research infrastructure within the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Public Health (CoPPS, IPH). These grants, totaling over $23 million, underscore FAMU’s leadership in advancing biomedical research while addressing critical minority health challenges.

“Securing NIH funding underscores FAMU faculty and their commitment to advancing scholarship that directly addresses the needs of the communities we serve," said Provost Allyson L. Watson, vice president for Academic Affairs. "This funding enhances our FAMU research capacity and allows us to make meaningful progress in tackling critical healthcare challenges faced by underserved populations."

The Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI) program, funded by the NIH’s General Medical Services Research division, awarded FAMU a grant renewal of $15.7 million The RCMI has been instrumental in supporting minority health and biomedical research at FAMU since its inception in 1985, with a total of $76 million in funding to date.

Associate Dean for Research and Innovation Karam F.A. Soliman, Ph.D., principal investigator for the RCMI program, emphasized the importance of this continued funding.

“This new grant affirms the RCMI Center’s 38-year legacy of empowering FAMU faculty to enhance their biomedical research capabilities, contributing to significant advancements in minority health research,” said Soliman. “The program has been transformative in supporting graduate programs and enabling the University to produce 60 percent of the nation’s African American Ph.D.’s in the pharmaceutical sciences.”

The renewed funding will also support new faculty hires and enhanced research in key areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), bioinformatics, and cancer biology.  

The second NIH grant renewal, the Turning Discovery Into Health initiative, has awarded FAMU a $7,991,046 grant to expand FAMU’s infrastructure for translational and health disparities research. The project is spearheaded by Selina Faith Darling-Reed, Ph.D., CoPPS, IPH associate dean and professor of pharmacology.

The grant will fund a new 16,000-square-foot facility that will foster a multidisciplinary research environment, bringing together faculty and researchers from diverse fields located across the university. The east wing of the New Pharmacy Building will be retrofitted with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) concepts, ensuring the facility meets the highest standards for sustainability and efficiency.

“The creation of this centralized facility will resolve logistical challenges by consolidating research currently dispersed across three separate buildings,” said Darling-Reed. “Now we can address the growing demands for collaborative biomedical and behavioral research focusing on solutions for minority health and health disparities.”

Interim Dean Seth Ablordeppey, Ph.D., said the NIH grants underscore FAMU’s commitment to advancing groundbreaking research within the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Institute of Public Health.

“This funding will enable us to make even greater strides in improving healthcare outcomes and fostering innovation, particularly in addressing health disparities,” said Ablordeppey. “We look forward to turning our research into impactful solutions for the communities we serve.”

Key contributors to the NIH renewal grants include the following faculty members:

• Seth Y. Ablordeppey, Ph.D.
• Selina Faith Darling-Reed, Ph.D.
• Eun Sook Yu Lee, Ph.D.
• John Luque, Ph.D.
• Elizabeth Mazzio, Ph.D.
• Renee Reams, Ph.D.
• Kinfe Ken Redda, Ph.D.
• Mandip Sachdeva, Ph.D.
• Karam F.A. Soliman, Ph.D.
• Sandra G. Suther, Ph.D.
• Craig Talton, Ph.D.
• Syreeta Tilghman, Ph.D.

For more information about these grants, contact Ola Lamar Sheffield, Ph.D., at (850) 412-5110 or visit pharmacy.famu.edu.

NIH DISCLAIMER: The project reported in this news release was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Office of Research Infrastructure Programs under Grant Number 1C06OD037803-01. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NIH.

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