PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT: The overarching goal of the Florida A&M University (FAMU) C06
application is to buildout a multi-disciplinary 16,000 square foot integrated shared service core facility ;
"Expanding Infrastructure for Translational and Health Disparities Research at Florida A&M University"
(FAMU-EIR) to facilitate the growing demands for physical space, required for collaborations between
biomedical and behavioral research focusing on solutions for minority health and health disparities. FAMU
is a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) first established in Tallahassee, Florida in 1887,
which today makes it geographically ideal for serving the surrounding counties with large African
American populations. FAMU is also an institute of emerging excellence (42 USC 283k(c)(2)) and a
Carnegie R2-High Research Activity University. FAMUs College of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences,
Institute of Public Health (CoPPS, IPH), is one of the many FAMU research intensive facilities with
minority student bodies abiding in a unified central principal mission to serve and educate the African-
American community through instruction, research, and community outreach, in order to reduce health
disparities. The proposed FAMU-EIR will overcome major deficiencies in physical infrastructure stemming
from logistical inefficiencies such as workflow dispersed across three separate buildings (one of which is
slated for future demolition); to the University as a whole, an outreach center for community engagement
is sorely needed. A centralized FAMU-EIR facility is in alignment with FAMUs 2030 defined goals; to
obtain classification as a Carnegie R1-Very High Research Activity Institution ; as well as those of its
research funding agencies such as NIH-funded U54 Research Centers for Minority Institutions (RCMI)
and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) U54 Funded Florida-California (CARE2) Health Equity Center.
The proposed space for the facility is present and allocated for this very purpose, on Level 4, as one of 2
open- empty shell floors, in the Phase 2 New Pharmacy building (NPB), a five-story addition to the NPB
Phase 1 funded by the Florida Legislature in 2014-2015. The building is architecturally sound and Level 4
will be built out using LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) concepts developed by the
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) abiding in efficiency, life-cycle cost analysis (LCCA) for optimized
sustainability, quality and function. The much needed FAMU-EIR facility will serve as a central
multidisciplinary service hub, strategically designed to encourage intercommunication between
researchers in a tandem workflow with the behavioral/public health/community engagement center
fostering ongoing trans-disciplinary workflow and innovative translational technologies, leaving a lasting
legacy of societal impact.
Project Summary/Abstract