Meharry Medical Receives Grant To Fund Research

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Doctors at Meharry Medical College have been awarded a multi-million grant to examine health issues affecting minority communities.

They have been developing the research for years, and the funds are crucial to keep the study moving.

The school was recently awarded a research grant for more than $21 million through the National Institutes of Health.

"Research is fairly expensive," said Dr. James Hildreth, Meharry Medical College.

Hildreth is the director of Meharry's HIV research center said the funds are sorely needed for important study.

"In our case we're focusing on diseases that are really relevant to people of color, to minorities - cardiovascular disease, aids, cancer, diseases of that sort," said Hildreth.

Doctors want to establish a national model taking what they've discovered through research to hopefully solve health issues.

"This grant will allow us to build on the exciting research that we've begun over the last several years," said Hildreth.

The college will be establishing the Meharry Clinical and Translational Research Center with the money. It will pave the way for researchers to determine why these disparities exist and to find new treatments.

They'll receive about $4 million a year over the next five years. The award was the largest research grant in the schools history.