RMATRIX - Clinical Translational Research Award.

The University of Hawai‘i (UH) at Manoa, John A. Burns School of Medicine received a research infrastructure award in November 2010 to advance clinical and translational research in health disparities reduction in Hawai‘i. Clinical and translational research refers to the translation of knowledge from the laboratory bench to the patient’s bedside and then to the larger community. The grant was awarded by the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Research Resources (NIH, NCRR) on a competitive basis to provide resources to campuses to foster collaborative research. The Clinical & Translational Research Award is a Research Center in Minority Institutions (RCMI) program aimed at addressing health disparities (differences in health between subsets of the population) through the conduct of clinical and translational research. Entitled RCMI Multidisciplinary And Translational Research Infrastructure EXpansion in Hawai‘i or RMATRIX, this grant is a 3-year award with the opportunity to renew and/or extend the clinical and translational research activities into other national collaborations. The UH Manoa, John A. Burns School of Medicine is the backbone for this award that will complement many areas of excellent health disparities research that are already underway in our state. Given the emphasis of the 2010 federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act on improving health across the population and fi nding innovative, cost-effective best practices, building the infrastructure to pursue clinical and translational research focused on the reduction of health disparities in Hawai‘i is a timely endeavor.