WHO

The Cobb Institute encourages graduate students and health professionals representative of racial and ethnic minority health populations to pursue careers in clinical, behavioral, and social health research.
The Institute seeks to attract graduate students of the following disciplines, including health policy, medicine, epidemiology, history and interdisciplinary health studies, dedicated to identifying solutions to improve the health of African Americans

WHAT

The goal of the minority health research development initiative is to build a cohort of minority researchers who share the goals of The Cobb/NMA Health Institute to eliminate health disparities in the U.S. through evidence-based research, health policy, and education. The Cobb Institute serves as an intellectual home for graduate students who are interested in innovative approaches to health disparities research.

WHY

Racial and ethnic minorities are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population.  The National Institutes of Health requires racially diverse representation in government sponsored clinical trials.  Although pharmaceuticals are known to be one of the most effective means of healthcare, the evidence publicly available suggests that many pharmaceutical products are approved for marketing in the U.S. without appropriate participation of minority patients in industry sponsored clinical trials.  Industry products may be promoted and prescribed to millions of minority patients without adequate information on safe and effective use.  The importance of this issue is heightened by a growing body of knowledge of differences in clinical response as a function of racial and ethnic origin and a growing dependence on foreign clinical data.

It is the National Medical Association’s position that African American patient and physician representation in clinical trials is generally inadequate, thus compromising the quality and validity of clinical trial findings used to guide the treatment of African American patients. It is important that African Americans and other minorities participate in all aspects of biomedical research and clinical trials.

WHEN

Throughout the year

HOW

Interested graduate students should send a cover letter, C.V., and a 2 page minimum summary of research their interests as it relates to the goals of the Cobb Institute and its major areas of research in disaster preparedness, diabetes, Medicare Part D, HIV/AIDS, and smoking cessation.

Due to the high volume of materials received, no email or phone inquires please. Interested doctoral or medical graduate students should mail materials to:

Only candidates whose research interests paralle current research programs of the Cobb/NMA Institute will be notified.