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Grant helps NCCU address health disparities among minority groups

North Carolina Central University is making waves in the world of biomedical research and announced Monday that it is the recipient of a multi-million dollar grant that will address health matters in the African-American community.

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DURHAM, N.C. — North Carolina Central University is making waves in the world of biomedical research and announced Monday that it is the recipient of a multi-million dollar grant that will address health matters in the African-American community.

NCCU understands the importance of research for health disparities. It’s such a priority that the institution is now the recipient of a $16.3 million grant to advance that research.

“NCCU has been at the forefront of investigating and addressing health disparities affecting African-Americans and other minority groups,” said Chancellor Johnson Akinleye.

The grant is awarded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. Leaders at NCCU said the funding will be used for a new center called the Research Center in Minority Institutions.

Dr. Deepak Kumar, who said the research is not new to the university, believes the grant will help put health disparities at the forefront.

“They do impact our community gravely and we have to do something about it,” he said.

Black people between the ages of 35 and 64 are 50 percent more likely to have high blood pressure compared to white people while blacks between the ages of 18 and 49 are two times more likely to die from heart disease. Black people also have the highest death rate for all cancers combines, compared with white people.

Exploration of breast cancer disparities, kidney and cardio metabolic disease and diet, including obesity, are just a few projects the grant will ultimately help advance.

Visionaries such as Kumar see the grant as an opportunity to foster collaborations and leverage resources from across North Carolina and for the greater good of the state.

“When you have the right leader in place to mobilize and to motivate and to bring people together and to bring them along, these are the kind of results we will achieve,” Akinleye said.

NCCU was one of seven institutions chosen for the grant.

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