The External Advisory Committee is comprised of esteemed neuroscientists who enjoy national recognition and have vast experience in program development. The External Advisory Committee advises the Director of the Morehouse School of Medicine Neuroscience Institute in overall strategies and recommends changes in personnel and research directions.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) - in collaboration with the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD), the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), and the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) - supports an innovative funding mechanism called Specialized Center Cooperative Agreement (U54) Programs. The purpose of these programs is to augment and strengthen the research capabilities of faculty, students, and fellows at minority institutions by supporting the development of new, or enhancement of ongoing, basic and clinical neuroscience research programs. The Specialized Center Cooperative Agreements strive to meet the following programmatic goals:

• To assist in infrastructure development leading to well established, state-of-the-art neuroscience research
  
  
• To foster innovative and effective partnerships and collaboration between minority institutions and established neuroscience laboratories at federal and non-federal research institutions.
  
  
• To create, support and maintain a stimulating academic and intellectual milieu to inspire and prepare students and fellows to pursue research careers in neuroscience; and
  
  
• To provide support to develop and sustain competitively funded neuroscience research projects and programs.
  

The first Specialized Center Cooperative Agreement was awarded to the Morehouse School of Medicine in 1994 and fully funded in 1996. Success in the scientific accomplishments of this program and interest from academic institutions affiliated with the NCRR-supported Research Centers in Minority Institutions programs led to the creation of the Specialized Neuroscience Research Program (SNRP) initiative in 1999. There are currently 11 Specialized Center Cooperative Agreement grantees affiliated with a consortium of 32 collaborating neuroscience research institutions. The current list of University of Hawaii (2), Howard University College of Medicine, the Universidad Central del Caribe Puerto Rico, the University of Texas at San Antonio, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Meharry Medical College, and Hunter College.