Profile: NIMHD--NIH's institute for minority health

Abstract

The NIMHD reached its current incarnation in 2010, with the passage of Barack Obama's Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Besides awarding competitive research grants, the NIMHD also created 51 Comprehensive or Exploratory Centers of Excellence in minority health and health disparities around the USA to "become local hubs for health disparities research, addressing the biological, environmental, behavioural, and social factors that contribute to health disparities". Marino De Leon directs one of these centres, the newly created Center for Health Disparities and Molecular Medicine at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine in California.