"There has never been a serious assessment of these programs, so all we have ever been able to do is speak anecdotally about their value," says Ruffin, associate director for research on minority health, in the Office of the NIH Director. "Once we figure out what we have got, and how effective it is, we may adjust, modify, or eliminate. The budget problem is real; we don't want to waste any money but we want solutions.
"The NIH spends far less than 1 percent of its budget for their minority programs, but I, for one, want to conduct a national study that speaks of results. I want to document success."
The oldest of the programs are some of its largest, and most expensive, costing, for example, $78 million in 1991. The Minority Access to Research Careers (MARC) and the Minority Biomedical Research Support (MBRS) started in 1972, while the Research ...
