About Us

The Mississippi Center for Clinical and Translational Research (MCCTR) is an ambitious enterprise designed to successfully address Mississippi's clinical and translational research needs through its four MCCTR partner institutions: the University of Mississippi Medical Center, Tougaloo College, the University of Mississippi, the University of Southern Mississippi, and Mississippi State University. The Center is funded by an Institutional Development Award (IDeA) Program Infrastructure for Clinical and Translational Research (IDeA-CTR) grant through the National Institute of General Medicine Sciences. This $19.8 million grant seeks to improve the health of Mississippians by providing the infrastructure needed to support research across this multi-institutional venture.

Mission

Our mission is to develop a powerful and sustainable research enterprise that will have an important public health impact on the citizens of Mississippi.

Goals of the MCCTR

The goals of the MCCTR are to (1) enhance infrastructure and people resources required to address the clinical and translational research needs in Mississippi; (2) increase focus on implementation science and clinical and behavioral interventions to address the disparities associated with cardiometabolic and obesity-related diseases in Mississippi; and (3) foster and coordinate collaboration in clinical and translational research among our partner institutions and within the national network of other academic centers dedicated to the same goals. 

The MCCTR is intended as a hub that will increase the utilization of all research resources of the partner institutions to promote multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary clinical, translational, and community-engaged research projects.

Impact

Mississippi has major challenges in its healthcare delivery and health outcomes. Each year, United Health  Foundation ranks each state’s health status using 35 different measures. In its 2019 rankings, Mississippi ranked worst at 50^th overall. Within those 35 measures, Mississippi ranked worst in infant mortality, low birthweight, children in poverty, clinical care, infectious disease, chronic kidney diseases, cardiovascular deaths, and Alzheimer deaths and “all determinants”.  See figure.