P50MD017338

Deep South Center to Reduce Disparities in Chronic Diseases - Project Summary / Abstract:

Overall, the Deep South, including Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, has the highest rates of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension in the nation. As a result, life expectancy in the Deep South is substantially lower than other regions, and this discrepancy is even greater for Black Americans.

The mission of the Deep South Center to Reduce Disparities in Chronic Diseases is to promote health equity and reduce the burden of cardiometabolic diseases across the Deep South. The center will focus on the prevention, treatment, and management of cardiometabolic diseases among Black Americans and low-income populations who suffer disproportionately from these conditions in our tri-state region.

The center is unified thematically through the application of the precision public health approach across the care continuum to achieve health equity, as the elimination of disparities will require precision public health, i.e., "providing the right intervention to the right population at the right time". This approach acknowledges the importance of context, culture, individual beliefs and preferences, as well as the need for multi-level and multi-domain interventions.

The center brings together a transdisciplinary team of investigators from 4 institutions in 3 contiguous states (The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Tuskegee University, Louisiana's Pennington Biomedical Research Center, and the University of Mississippi Medical Center), as well as regional non-academic partners to extend cardiometabolic research into real-world community and clinical settings. The center will drive academic and non-academic partners toward a new level of intellectual synergy, collaboration, and sustainable efforts to disseminate effective interventions that reduce health disparities in the region.

To achieve the long-term goal of improving health equity, the center will provide and coordinate resources not currently available through the following:

1) An Investigator Development Core, to expand and diversify the region's research workforce through enrichment activities and a robust pilot program.
2) A Community Engagement Core, to promote equitable collaborations between researchers and non-academic partners.
3) The Administrative Core, to provide leadership and support for all center initiatives.

The center also includes three interrelated research projects evaluating multi-level and multi-domain interventions that are informed by, and conducted with, academic and community stakeholders in the region to address cardiometabolic health disparities among Black Americans and low-income populations.

Given the significant health disparities in cardiometabolic diseases evident in the Deep South, the strong research base present at the partnering institutions, and the potential to expand and focus these energies on health equity research, the Deep South Center to Reduce Disparities in Chronic Diseases is ideally situated to inform research, clinical care, and policy to promote health equity and reduce cardiometabolic disparities in a region of tremendous need.

University Of Alabama At Birmingham

TO SUPPORT BASIC, CLINICAL, SOCIAL, AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH, PROMOTE RESEARCH INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRAINING, FOSTER EMERGING PROGRAMS, DISSEMINATE INFORMATION, AND REACH OUT TO MINORITY AND OTHER HEALTH DISPARITY COMMUNITIES. THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES (NIMHD) HAS ESTABLISHED PROGRAMS TO PURSUE THESE GOALS: (1) THE CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE PROGRAM PROMOTES RESEARCH TO IMPROVE MINORITY HEALTH AND/OR REDUCE AND ELIMINATE HEALTH DISPARITIES, BUILDS RESEARCH CAPACITY FOR MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES RESEARCH IN ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS, ENCOURAGES PARTICIPATION OF HEALTH DISPARITY GROUPS AND COMMUNITIES IN BIOMEDICAL AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION ACTIVITIES, AND BRINGS TOGETHER INVESTIGATORS FROM RELEVANT DISCIPLINES IN A MANNER THAT WILL ENHANCE AND EXTEND THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THEIR RESEARCH, (2) NIMHD RESEARCH ENDOWMENT PROGRAM BUILDS RESEARCH CAPACITY AND INFRASTRUCTURE AT ELIGIBLE NIMHD CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE OR ELIGIBLE SECTION 736 HEALTH PROFESSIONS SCHOOLS (42 U.S.C. 293) TO FACILITATE MINORITY HEALTH AND OTHER HEALTH DISPARITIES RESEARCH TO CLOSE THE DISPARITY GAP IN THE BURDEN OF ILLNESS AND DEATH EXPERIENCED BY RACIAL AND ETHNIC MINORITY AMERICANS AND OTHER HEALTH DISPARITY POPULATIONS, PROMOTES A DIVERSE AND STRONG SCIENTIFIC, TECHNOLOGICAL AND ENGINEERING WORKFORCE, AND EMPHASIZES THE RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF UNDERREPRESENTED MINORITIES AND OTHER SOCIO-ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED POPULATIONS IN THE FIELDS OF BIOMEDICAL AND BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH AND OTHER AREAS OF THE SCIENTIFIC WORKFORCE, (3) THE CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE ON ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DISPARITIES RESEARCH TO STIMULATE BASIC AND APPLIED RESEARCH ON ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH DISPARITIES, (4) MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH TRAINING PROGRAM (MHIRT) AWARDS ENABLE U.S. INSTITUTIONS TO TAILOR SHORT-TERM BASIC SCIENCE, BIOMEDICAL AND BEHAVIORAL MENTORED STUDENT INTERNATIONAL RESEARCH TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES TO ADDRESS GLOBAL ISSUES RELATED TO UNDERSTANDING, REDUCING, AND ELIMINATING HEALTH DISPARITIES, (5) SMALL BUSINESS INNOVATION RESEARCH (SBIR) PROGRAM INCREASES PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, ENCOURAGES SMALL BUSINESS PARTICIPATION IN FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND FOSTERS AND ENCOURAGES PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION, (6) SMALL BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER (STTR) PROGRAM STIMULATES AND FOSTERS SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION THROUGH COOPERATIVE RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT CARRIED OUT BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, FOSTERS TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER BETWEEN SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS, INCREASES PRIVATE SECTOR COMMERCIALIZATION OF INNOVATIONS DERIVED FROM FEDERAL RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT, AND FOSTERS AND ENCOURAGES PARTICIPATION OF SOCIALLY AND ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS AND WOMEN-OWNED SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS IN TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION, (7) HEALTH DISPARITIES RESEARCH PROJECT GRANTS (RPG) SUPPORT INNOVATIVE PROJECTS TO ENHANCE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF BIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS, SOCIAL, BEHAVIORAL, AND HEALTH SERVICES THAT CAN DIRECTLY AND DEMONSTRABLY CONTRIBUTE TO THE IMPROVEMENT IN MINORITY HEALTH AND THE ELIMINATION OF HEALTH DISPARITIES WHICH INCLUDES THE (8) RESEARCH CENTERS IN MINORITY INSTITUTIONS (RCMI) BUILD CAPACITY FOR BASIC BIOMEDICAL AND/OR BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH, CLINICAL AND TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH (RCTR) AND A NETWORK (RCTN) BY FOCUSING ON INSTITUTIONAL RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT, SUCH AS SUPPORTING CORE RESEARCH FACILITIES AND STAFF, PURCHASING ADVANCED INSTRUMENTATION, AND LABORATORY RENOVATIONS/ALTERATIONS (9) CLINICAL RESEARCH EDUCATION AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT (CRECD) AWARDS PROVIDE DIDACTIC TRAINING AND MENTORED CLINICAL RESEARCH EXPERIENCES TO DEVELOP INDEPENDENT RESEARCHERS WHO CAN LEAD CLINICAL RESEARCH STUDIES, ESPECIALLY THOSE ADDRESSING HEALTH DISPARITIES, (10) PATHWAY TO INDEPENDENCE AWARDS (K99/R00) TO INCREASE AND MAINTAIN A STRONG COHORT OF NEW AND TALENTED, NIH-SUPPORTED, INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATORS. (11) NIH RESEARCH CONFERENCE GRANT AND NIH RESEARCH CONFERENCE COOPERATIVE AGREEMENT PROGRAMS SUPPORT HIGH-QUALITY CONFERENCES THAT ARE RELEVANT TO THE MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES, (12) TRANSDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATIVE CENTERS FOR HEALTH DISPARITIES RESEARCH COMPRISE REGIONAL COALITIONS OF ACADEMIC INSTITUTIONS, COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS, SERVICE PROVIDERS AND SYSTEMS, GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS CONDUCTING COORDINATED RESEARCH, IMPLEMENTATION AND DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES THAT TRANSCEND CUSTOMARY APPROACHES AND SILO ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURES TO ADDRESS CRITICAL QUESTIONS AT MULTIPLE LEVELS IN INNOVATIVE WAYS FOCUSED ON PRIORITY RESEARCH AREAS IN MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES, (13) RUTH L. KIRSCHSTEIN NRSA INDIVIDUAL PREDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP

93.307 - Minority Health and Health Disparities Research

National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) [HHS - NIH]

Birmingham, Alabama 352940004 United States

Single Zip Code

Centers for Multiple Chronic Diseases Associated with Health Disparities: Prevention, Treatment, and Management (P50 Clinical Trial Required) (RFA-MD-21-007)

Amendment Since initial award the total obligations have increased 507% from $4,560,566 to $27,671,310.