Island receives $16.2 million for health & greenhouse gas emission reduction
By John McPhaul
jpmcphaul@gmail.com
Resident Commissioner Jenniffer González Colón announced on Tuesday a new allocation of federal funds totaling $16.2 million for state organizations and entities in Puerto Rico for health programs promoting research in educational institutions, and for reducing energy costs and emissions of greenhouse gasses.
Under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the island will receive a total of $15,238,477. Of that sum, the Ryan White program will allocate $6,891,353 to the island Department of Health, $171,826 to the ARARAT Center Inc., $160,995 to the Lares Health Center Inc., $148,626 to the Neomed Center Inc. and $42,955 dollars to the Comprehensive Health Council of Loíza Inc.
The co-chair of the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus noted that the Ryan White program is aimed at ensuring access to clinical and support services for people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS.
Another $3,465,000 was also awarded through HHS to the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Medical Sciences Campus under the Family Planning Services office, with $2,516,828 going to the Dr. Julio Palmieri Ferri Family Health Center Inc. under the Health Center Cluster, and $400,000 going to Migrant Health Center Western Region Inc. to provide HIV prevention services for YMSM (including young men who identify as gay or bisexual, are attracted to other men, and/or engage in sexual behavior with other men) between the ages of 3-24 years, in the western region of Puerto Rico.
In addition, the research program in Pharmacology, Physiology and Biological Chemistry will receive funds to be divided between the Medical Sciences Campus of the UPR ($369,500), the Ponce School of Medicine ($630,299), the UPR Humacao Campus ($369,066) and Central University of the Caribbean ($117,029).
For its part, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced an investment of some $884,301 to support the financing of projects from three institutions on the island.
The NSF awarded $347,015 to the UPR Río Piedras Campus for the project entitled IQ-Bio-REU: Interdisciplinary and Quantitative Biology Research Experience for Undergraduates. It will support the training of 10 students in the STEM disciplines for nine weeks during the summers of 2022-2024 so they can advance their research projects.
The Medical Sciences Campus of UPR, meanwhile, was awarded $291,594 for the REU Site project: Molecular Aspects of Pharmaceutical Sciences at UPR, also to support the training of STEM students for nine weeks during the summers of 2022-2024.