Source: NC A&T STATE UNIVERSITY, 8/10/22

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) – part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – has awarded $4 million to support a collaboration across the Nutrition Obesity Research Center (NORC) at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health and the North Carolina Diabetes Research Center (NCDRC) that will provide career advancement for nutrition, obesity and diabetes researchers from underrepresented minority groups, and ultimately, diversify the research workforce dedicated to investigating these chronic diseases.

The grant will help to establish the North Carolina Consortium for Diversity Career Development in Nutrition, Obesity, and Diabetes Research.

The consortium, a five-year collaboration between the UNC NORC and the NCDRC, will be co-led by Elimelda Moige Ongeri, Ph.D., professor and dean of the John R. and Kathy R. Hairston College of Health and Human Sciences at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, and Elizabeth Mayer Davis, Ph.D., Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor of Nutrition and Medicine at the Gillings School.

It will support 20 researchers from six institutions across the state: Duke University, N.C. A&T, North Carolina Central University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Wake Forest University, and Winston-Salem State University.

“This award is great for the state of North Carolina,” said Ongeri. “The new mentoring consortium builds on existing regional partnerships that optimize utilization of resources and expertise.

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