Under the leadership of interim Directors Drs. Rick Glazier and Wendy Levinson, the ICHRU attracted new talent from around the world. As the ICHRU grew, its impact expanded: in 2002, ICHRU hosted the first-ever International Conference on Inner City Health, highlighting the unit’s growing global reach. Drs. Bayoumi and Hwang, who co-chaired the conference, published a paper that helped define and advance inner city health as an emerging, complex, and increasingly relevant discipline. “Throughout the research endeavor, the inner-city health researcher must carefully balance the roles of investigator, advocate, activist, and caregiver.”