Minority / Underserved – Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

While Cures Within Reach is disease-agnostic and geography-agnostic, some of our funding partners have strategic interests in specific population groups.  Therefore, in addition to our disease-specific and geographic repurposing communities, we have a Minority and Underserved Repurposing Community to support Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) efforts that utilizes the speed and cost-effectiveness of testing already approved therapies in new indications to improve the quality and length of life of minority and underserved patients as well as to support minority and underserved researchers.

We support Diversity, Equity & Inclusion efforts by finding and funding clinical repurposing projects to improve overall health equity and clinical trial diversity:

• Led by Minority and Underserved Researchers in any disease area (underserved according to a 2020 NIH report on racial disparities in NIH funding)
• To positively impact Health Disparities within communities of color (including engagement of community-based health and social services organizations) 
• To impact patients living in low and low-middle income countries (LMICs, as defined by the World Bank)

Open Funding Opportunities in Diversity, Equity & Inclusion:

• Repurposing Research Led by a US-Based Under-Represented Racial Minority Principal Investigator: at least 3 grants of up to $70,000 each for clinical repurposing trials in any disease led by a US-based under-represented racial / ethnic minority PI, as defined by the NIH. CLOSED; SUBMISSIONS UNDER REVIEW.
• Repurposing Research to Address Racial / Ethnic Health Disparities in the Greater Chicago Area: at least 3 grants of up to $80,000 each for clinical repurposing trials from any research institution in the greater Chicago area to address racial / ethnic health disparities in communities of color as defined by the NIH. CLOSED; SUBMISSIONS UNDER REVIEW.
• ReGRoW: Repurposing Grants for the Rest of the World – Funding for Underserved Researchers in Low and Lower-Middle Income Countries (LMICs): at least 3 grants of up to $50,000 each for clinical repurposing trials led by underserved researchers in LMICs to impact patients in LMICs, as defined by the World Bank. CLOSED; SUBMISSIONS UNDER REVIEW.

More information on our Funding Opportunities / RFPs page.

As we develop and grow this Community, Cures Within Reach thanks our early funding partners:

for its support of our first project in Health Disparities: “Can Vitamin D reduce the burden of COVID-19?” focusing on Black and Hispanic Chicagoans and our Health Disparities initiative for Chicago,

and:

for its support of our initiative to impact Minority and Underserved patients and researchers.

Our DEI trials include:

• Improving Patient Response in Mantle Cell Lymphoma with Venetoclax
• Can Vitamin D Reduce the Burden of COVID-19 in Chicago?
• Treating Tuberculosis with a Lipid Lowering Drug in Nigeria
• Testing the Safety of a Repurposed Drug to Treat Snakebite in Kenya 
• Improving Outcomes for the Rare Liver Disease Biliary Atresia with a Cancer Drug in Vietnam
• Repurposing Fecal Microbiota Transplantation for the Treatment of Pediatric Malnutrition in South Africa (completed)

Dr. Hamaluba researching snakebites in Kenya

Dr. Adewole researching tuberculosis in Nigeria

Dr. Nguyen researching a rare pediatric disease in Vietnam