It has been announced here today by the National Center for Research Resources or the NCRR, the distinguished constituent of the National Institutes of Health or NIH about its allocation of $9.5 million at the initial level for the introduction of a Translational Research Network over a time period of three years. It has also been averred, that the sole intention of the study shall be directed towards the increasing of the prospect of the multi-site clinical and translational research among an assortment of minority and other collaborating institutions through the length and breadth of the nation. In this respect it is to be noted, that the reputed investigators in these institutions do focus on those diseases that do affect the minority populations at large, of which cancer, diabetes, renal disease, infant mortality, HIV/AIDS, and cardiovascular diseases appear to be the supreme.

According to the announcement the well-known expert in kidney disease at Charles Drew University in Los Angeles, Calif, Dr. Keith Norris, M.D. will be in charge of the team. The other participating institutions in the project include Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, Ga; University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii; Hunter College, CUNY, New York; University of Puerto Rico, Medical Sciences Campus, San Juan, Puerto Rico; Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tenn; Howard University, Washington, D.C.; and Jackson State University, Jackson, Miss.

The chief direction of the Translational research conducted in the network shall range over a wide area of subjects that includes the specified studies with its central focus on the various application of discoveries that are generated for the duration of research in the laboratory to clinical trials. It is then to be followed by the gradual development and implementation of the best practices in the prevention of diseases along with intervention in local community meetings. It has also come to the knowledge that through the effective introduction of the apparatus which are based on computers for the sake of prolific analysis and also the management of clinical research data, recruiting for clinical trials and also through communicating with the patients on a regular basis, the clinical and translational researchers of repute shall be enabled by the network to act as a single team while working with their communities.    

While speaking on the occasion Dr. Norris said,  "The network will allow investigators to pool resources and expertise as they conduct high quality, collaborative, multi-center research that will increase the productivity and impact of each of the individual centers."