Now accepting applications for the 2026-2027 Cohort of Pilot Projects & Investigators!
- The IHER Pilot Grant program is targeted at junior faculty and early-stage investigators (https://grants.nih.gov/policy/early-stage/index.htm), including post-doctoral researchers who are currently employed by Delaware State University (DSU).
- We anticipate funding four new pilot projects for a project duration of one year, with a maximum budget of $50,000 (direct cost).
- The project proposed must fit within the scope of what is achievable in a 1-year period.
- Pilot project awardees will receive a 50% reduction in their teaching load
Click here to apply and to learn more: https://iher.piestar-rfx.com/opportunities/all/rfp/137
- Letter of Intent Deadline: October 16, 2025
- Application Submission Deadline: November 30, 2025
Activities at the Core
- Pilot Check-ins with Dr. Lawal & Dr. Tutu: Pilot investigators meet with Dr. Lawal on the second Tuesday of each month to discuss progress on their pilot project and ways that the core can help achieve their goal
- The Core Joins FUNDamentals Grant Proposals to train faculty and staff on writing successful research and education grants
Introducing Core Co-Director Dr. Raymond TuTu:
The IHER Center welcomes Dr. Raymond Tutu, the new Co-Director of the Investigator Development Core, alongside Dr. Hakeem Lawal.
Dr. Tutu’s extensive scholarly portfolio focuses on population health, global migration, and human–environment interactions. His research is primarily concerned with health literacy and urban environments, with specific emphasis on understanding issues of marginality and water access.
Dr. Tutu holds a Ph.D. in Geography from Pennsylvania State University and an M.Phil. in Population Studies from the University of Ghana.
“My goal is to assist early-career faculty to evolve into preeminent scholars driving interdisciplinary advancement through high-impact, cutting-edge research,” Dr. Tutu said. “The importance of this commitment of mine is dual: It secures the future of knowledge production and ensures that students benefit directly from the insights and distinct intellectual vitality that only active, and engaged researchers can bring to the pedagogical environment.”
2025-2026 Cohort Announced
The Investigator Development Core is pleased to announce the names and project titles for the 2025 IHER Center Pilot Grant awardees who have recently been recommended by the Core to the NIH for their scientific projects. (Final award notification awaiting pending NIH approval.)
- Dr. Cameron Grover
Title: DIST Fellow (Asst. Professor starting August 2025)
Project title: Characterizing Respiratory Failure in Spinal Muscular Atrophy - Dr. Michelle Ratcliff
Title: Associate Professor
Project title: Promoting Non-Violent Behaviors Among Youth in Underserved Communities: A Community-Driven, Evidence-Based Approach
Pilot Investigators, 2024-2025 Cohort
Dr. Margaret Gulledge
Research Project: Identifying Barriers to Fall Prevention Screening and Intervention for Community-Dwelling Adults in Delaware: A Qualitative Study
Dr. Xuanren Goodman
Research Project: Crime, Neighborhood Cohesion, and Health in Individuals & Communities in Delaware
Dr. Tana Connell
Research Project: Addressing Health in Youth Programming through Community-based Participatory Research
Summary
“This project focuses on advancing health equity by implementing and evaluating two evidence-based substance misuse prevention programs: Botvin’s LifeSkills and Talk. They Hear You. Botvin’s LifeSkills equips youth with essential social and resistance skills to help them make healthier choices, while Talk. They Hear You is a media campaign designed to provide parents with the tools and confidence to communicate effectively with their children about substance use at an early age. By using a multilevel approach that engages children, families, and the broader community, this project seeks to strengthen protective factors and reduce the risk of substance misuse in underserved communities.
Guided by a community-based participatory research framework, the study emphasizes shared decision-making between the research team and community stakeholders to ensure culturally responsive programming. The project’s specific aims are to: (1) evaluate youth knowledge, skills, and behaviors related to substance use after participating in LifeSkills; (2) explore parents’ perceptions of their children’s attitudes and behaviors following participation in both interventions; and (3) analyze factors that support or limit the effectiveness of prevention programs in low-income communities. The ultimate goal is to build stronger families and healthier communities by addressing substance misuse through prevention, education, and collaboration.”
Dr. Courtney McClure
Research Project: Investigating the APOE3/R145C Variant and its Role in Increasing the Risk of Alzheimers
Pilot Investigators, 2023 - 2024 Cohort
DR. KARL MILETTI
Research Project: “Phenotypic characterization of triple negative breast cancer cells derived from African-American and European-American women with differential expression of CD44 variant isoforms”
Summary
My name is Karl E. Miletti-Gonzalez. I earned a Ph. D. in Molecular Genetics and Microbiology from Rutgers University, and carried out post-doctoral research at the NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center of the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. I am currently an Associate Professor in Biological Sciences at Delaware State University.
My RCMI-IHER pilot grant research seeks to investigate whether the higher diagnosis of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) – an aggressive breast cancer type – in African American (AA) women compared to European American (EA) women is in part due to genetic differences. This will be accomplished by studying the behavior of and the presence of specific proteins in TNBC cells derived from AA and EA women.
Dr. Rachel Pulverman
Research Project: “InVESTing in Children: Testing a Fun Activity for Enhancing Parent-Child Conversation”
Summary
Language skills are a crucial part of school readiness. The amount of language a child hears is an important predictor of language development, but before starting kindergarten, children from low socio-economic status families hear approximately 30 million fewer words than their more affluent peers (Hart & Risley, 1995). Interventions geared toward increasing parental talk are a promising avenue for leveling the playing field.
I am partnering with Delaware Readiness Teams to test a simple, inexpensive intervention to promote parent-child conversation during regular errands: A scavenger hunt. Parents and children are simply given a scavenger hunt card to take with them while shopping. Data from an audio recorder will be used to determine whether scavenger hunts effectively increase parent-child conversation during the activity and on a subsequent shopping trip. In the long-term, we will develop the intervention to have a more lasting impact.
Dr. Channelle Acheamfour
Research Project: “Salmonella enterica serovar diversity, distribution, and prevalence in irrigation water in Delaware”
Summary
Salmonella enterica is a leading cause of foodborne illnesses. Traditional culture methods often miss clinically relevant but less abundant serovars in food and environmental samples. This research aims to determine the serovar prevalence and diversity of Salmonella enterica in irrigation water sources in Delaware. Samples will be collected from agricultural ponds in Delaware. Serovar diversity will be determined using an amplicon-based sequencing tool which allows for the detection of multiple Salmonella serovars in a single sample. This research will improve the understanding of Salmonella serovar dynamics and aid in development of control strategies of this pathogen in irrigation waters.
Dr. Leela Thomas
Research Project: “Association between mother’s residential environment and disparities in gestational diabetes management and outcomes for mothers and infants”
Summary
Gestational diabetes mellitus is a common pregnancy related condition that can lead to serious maternal and infant complications. This study seeks to examine the association between residential neighborhood characteristics and disparities in the management and outcomes of the condition. It is a retrospective cohort study in which state-wide claims data stratified by census tract will be analyzed. Research process will also involve community partnerships through engagement with diabetes and high-risk pregnancy providers.
Dr. Erin Perchiniak
Research Project: “Elucidating the mechanism of altered sensitivity of African-centric p53 hypomorphic variants to MEK inhibitors”
Summary
My lab is interested in defects that occur within the apoptotic pathway that contribute to carcinogenesis. The current focus is on the tumor suppressor protein, p53, which has been studied extensively and is critical to the ability for cells to respond to both intrinsic and extrinsic cellular stress. Recent studies have reported that two different African-centric genetic p53 hypomorphs, Pro47Ser and Tyr107His, retain considerable p53 activity, but are defective for the transactivation of a small subset of p53 target genes and vary in spontaneous cancer formation and treatment to therapeutics. We are working to validate drug screen data showing increased sensitivity of the P47S or Y107H p53 hypomorphic variants to MEK inhibitors, in HCT116 colon cancer cells engineered to express each p53 variant through cell viability studies and colony forming assays. Understanding the underlying mechanisms by which these African-specific p53 hypomorphs differ from the wild-type protein is critical to shedding light on African cancer disparities as well as personalized medicine approaches.
