Health Disparities Dinner Meeting

More than 50 leaders in health disparities research and care attended the dinner meeting on Feb. 8^th, hosted by the Academic Health Center’s Office of Clinical Research. Attendees represented a wide range of interests--from reproductive and perinatal health and cancer screening to health literacy and access to care for underserved populations--as well as affiliations, including the University, HCMC, VA Medical Center, MN International Health Volunteers, Regions Hospital, Park Nicollet, MN Partnership for Action Against Tobacco, HealthPartners, and Blue Cross Blue Shield.  (Read biographies of those involved in issues of health disparities)

In welcoming the group, Executive Director, Office of Clinical Research, Jasjit S. Ahluwalia, M.D., M.P.H., M.S., expressed the need to advance research and care in health disparities within the local community and beyond. One of his goals is to form a working group across disciplines and communities where participants are able to learn from each other and collaborate. The purpose of this meeting, he said, is to form such a group to share information and build relationships. In addition, the importance of addressing health disparities was reinforced by Robert J. Jones, Ph.D., Senior Vice President for System Administration, who provides leadership for the system-wide strategic and academic priorities of the University. Issues of access and equity have been identified as part of a recent strategic positioning task force report, he said, and every effort will be made to address these issues. One of the ways the University plans to address this is to improve recruitment and retention of faculty, staff, and students from diverse populations and interests.

Health disparities will be a focus for the Office of Clinical Research, said Ahluwalia. In addition to fostering relationships with those involved in health disparities, Ahluwalia hopes to push the agenda as principal investigator on the NIH RFA proposal for the Clinical and Translational Sciences Award (CTSA), an infrastructure program that will allow institutions to request up to $6 million annually for 5 years. Initiatives addressing health disparities will be a key element to the proposal, which is due March 27^th.

Participants introduced themselves and their area of work and were then asked to discuss relevant issues and ideas for improving ways to address health disparities. Comments were varied, although certain themes emerged, such as the need for better collaboration between researchers and the community, the importance of including rural health, the need to value community-based work in P&T criteria, how to engage community members early in the research process and sustain relationships, and how to leverage pilot projects for subsequent NIH funding.

Looking ahead, a quarterly health disparities symposium will be led by the Office of Clinical Research, the details of which will be circulated through a listserv of participants, also maintained by the Office of Clinical Research.

Those are interested in being included in the health disparities listserv should submit a short paragraph of their bio and research interests for development of a database (see example below). In addition, further ideas for addressing health disparities will be welcomed. For more information, or to submit ideas or comments, please contact Brenda Hudson, Office of Clinical Research, at 612 624 3422 or at bhudson@umn.edu.