Since 1975, the Association has participated in a wide variety of externally funded projects. These projects have been funded by federal, state and local governments, private foundations, pharmaceutical companies, and private corporations. In addition, the NMA has experience working with several research institutes at the National Institutes of Health. They include the National Cancer Institute, the National Eye Institute, the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, among other federal entities.
The NMA has an extensive national, regional, and local infrastructure for promoting its programs. It has over 100 state and local affiliate societies that are organized within six geographic regions, providing an optimum structure for the implementation of programs that have a national, regional and local impact.
The organizational structure of the NMA provides an established framework of collaborative linkages within which physicians, as a principal group of health professionals, can be mobilized to address major health issues and implement national health program initiatives and treatment programs. These physicians and the health institutions they are affiliated with are a “natural” structure for addressing concerns that disproportionately or differentially impact minorities and underserved populations.
