HEALTH WELCOMES YOU
Helping Everyone Achieve a Lifetime of Health (HEALTH) Center for Addictions Research and Cancer Prevention

ABOUT US
Founded in 2020, The HEALTH Center for Addictions Research and Cancer Prevention (Helping Everyone Achieve a LifeTime of Health) was established to strategically enhance the University of Houston's (UH) research infrastructure to accelerate scientists’ capacity to conduct cutting-edge research that informs novel prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and intervention strategies that mitigate a broad range of disparities in addictions and cancer prevention research.
HEALTH-RCMI BY THE NUMBERS
4
Synergistic
Cores
13
RCMI at UH
Scientists
24
Community
Stakeholders
100%
Committed to eliminating health disparities
The HEALTH Center for Addictions Research and Cancer Prevention Launches at UH
Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI at UH) Cores
Dynamic Cores that Enhance Institutional Research Capacity

Administrative Core
The Administrative Core (AC) serves as the executive function to provide leadership, centralized management, and oversight. Designed to support the overarching goals of the RCMI at UH, the Administrative Core enhances our infrastructure to advance health-equity science in addictions and cancer prevention research; and increases underrepresented minority (URM) scientists’ productivity, discovery, and funding to pursue innovative research and dissemination activities.

Community Engagement Core
The Community Engagement Core (CEC) maintains a broad-based coalition comprised of service providers, faith-based organizations, community-based organizations, elected officials, stakeholders, and community members. Its framework provides a rare infrastructure for scientists underrepresented in the health sciences to execute high-impact research responsive to community-identified health challenges and feedback.

The Investigator Development Core
The Investigator Development Core (IDC) is a resource-efficient incubator for innovative Pilot Grants. These grants break new ground and provide the preliminary data needed for researchers underrepresented in the health sciences to accelerate their National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding portfolios. These efforts foster translation of pilot grants into developmentally appropriate NIH grants.

Research Infrastructure Core
The Research Infrastructure Core (RIC) enhances institutional research capacity across 12 colleges and 28 academic units and provides state-of-the-art services to scientists in Research Methodology; Laboratory Techniques and Facilities; Data Management and Biostatistics; Health Informatics; and Responsible Conduct of Research, Ethics, and Compliance.

Behavioral Science Research Project
African Americans have higher smoking rates than European Americans and are less likely to stop smoking due to stress. Smoking tobacco is one of the leading causes of preventable death and disability and leads to an economic disadvantage for the smokers. The Behavioral Science Research Project (BSRP) is overseeing a two-phase program focusing on helping African Americans quit smoking.
GOAL
The goal of the HEALTH Center for Addictions Research and Cancer Prevention is to establish a national exemplar for how community-engaged research can accelerate scientific breakthroughs that can be rapidly disseminated and implemented directly into targeted communities.
GET INVOLVED
The Research Affiliate Program provides research and outreach efforts by identifying, connecting, and supporting scientists who are interested in the discovery and productivity of health-equity research.
The Professional Development Program provides resources, research opportunities, and group mentoring for post-doctoral fellows and early-stage investigators (PhD received in the last ten years) underrepresented in the health sciences. Underrepresented groups include - but are not limited to - racial/ethnic minorities, women, individuals with disabilities, and disadvantaged backgrounds.