UAMS Receives $18.9 Million NIH Award to Address Health Disparities

By David Robinson

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) has received $18.9 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support new research and interventions that will focus on reducing cancer and cardiovascular disease disparities among people who live in rural areas and African American populations across Arkansas.

The five-year award from the NIH National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) will support the establishment of the Center for Research, Health and Social Justice – one of only 11 Multiple Chronic Disease (MCD) Centers funded in the United States. Leading the grant are Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health faculty members Carol Cornell, Ph.D., a professor and chair of the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, and director of the NIMHD-funded Arkansas Center for Health Disparities, and Pebbles Fagan, Ph.D., MPH, a professor and director of the Center for the Study of Tobacco.

The overall goals of the center are to:

• Advance the science of chronic disease health disparities through multidisciplinary team science to improve cancer and cardiovascular outcomes.

• Facilitate research and training opportunities to strengthen the capacity of researchers and community members to develop interventions that reduce cancer and cardiovascular disease disparities using social justice principles.

• Support academic-community partnerships to address the root causes of chronic disease disparities among African Americans and in rural areas in the state.

https://news.uams.edu/2021/11/15/uams-receives-18-9-million-nih-award-to-address-health-disparities/

Members of the research team include, (back row, l-r) Keneshia Bryant-Moore, Ph.D., FNP-BC, RN, Pebbles Fagan, Ph.D., Carol Cornell, Ph.D., Linda Luster and Christina Hamilton; (front) Elizabeth Taylor, Theresa Prewitt, Dr.P.H., and Tiffany Haynes, Ph.D. Pictured separately are, from top: Mark Williams, Ph.D., Chris Long, Ph.D., and Mignonne Guy, Ph.D. (Virginia Commonwealth University).