UTEP proposes to develop and implement the \"UTEP Center for Investigator Training and Community Engagement in Transdisciplinary Minority Health Disparities Research,\" to provide a specialized community-engaged research training program whereby academic and community partnerships will jointly participate in the design and implementation of collaborative research projects aimed at eliminating health disparities in the Paso del Norte region. The proposed Center of Excellence (COE) builds on UTEP's strong foundation of demonstrated commitment for community-engaged scholarship, a strong record of intellectual community-engaged capacity and robust support from community-based organizations. The COE includes three cores that are intimately integrated and synchronized to provide training, mentoring, dissemination, and translation of research to inform health policy. The conceptual framework of the COE includes a syndemics model/approach, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approach to train investigators and community partners and leverages a long-existing institutional community-engaged culture and networks. A team of scholars will develop a pilot project program and community engaged mentoring to develop community- engaged pilot projects, institute active coaching for grant writing for early career investigators and community members, mentoring workshops for investigators at all career levels, and community engaged transdisciplinary/interdisciplinary minority (Hispanic) health disparities research. The proposed syndemics approach will help develop equitable academic-community partnerships that will understand the interconnectivity of social determinants of health and morbidities affecting the region's population. This new knowledge augmented by a specialized community-engaged research training will provide UTEP investigators and community collaborators with the basis for the design of culturally relevant, cutting-edge, effective, and sustainable interventions. UTEP's COE is committed to work with UTEP institutional units (e.g., Center for Community Engagement, Community Engagement Leadership Program), other resources, and with healthcare-engaged community partners to increase and sustain a network of academic- community partnerships and a critical mass of investigators who conduct community-engaged Health disparities research now, and in the future.