NIH Awards UAB New Center on Minority Health Disparities

Diabetes kills African-Americans at a rate double that of whites. Colon cancer mortality is a third higher, and overall mortality is nearly 1.5 times higher. Now the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) will use a $4.25 million federal grant to try to help change those statistics through research, screening and education programs, and training of health-related professionals.

December 11, 2003

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Diabetes kills African-Americans at a rate double that of whites. Colon cancer mortality is a third higher, and overall mortality is nearly 1.5 times higher. Now the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) will use a $4.25 million federal grant to try to help change those statistics through research, screening and education programs, and training of health-related professionals.

The four-year grant comes from the National Institutes of Health’s National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities. It establishes a Regional Deep South Project Export Center of Excellence for Minority Health (Project Export) to begin developing a health-disparities center. Dr. Selwyn M. Vickers, professor of surgery, is principal investigator for the program. The grant was developed in conjunction with co-principal investigators Mona Fouad, Edward Partridge, and Catarina Kiefe.

“The health gap between minorities and whites is a problem that statistics make obvious, and is particularly severe in the Black Belt counties of Alabama with highest concentrations of African-Americans,” Vickers said. “This new center of excellence, incorporating Project Export, will help coordinate and build on existing efforts at UAB to combat this problem of health disparities in our state and region.”

UAB’s center is one of seven around the nation to receive status as a comprehensive center of excellence and full funding in this fiscal year. Ten others received developmental grants to lay groundwork for future centers. The center aims to build partnerships at institutions enrolling a significant number of students from health disparity populations and will promote participation and training in biomedical and behavioral research at these historically black colleges and universities.

Vickers noted that the Project Export initially will reach out to the community through screening and education programs for diabetes and colon cancer. The diabetes program will be conducted in Jefferson County in association with the faith-based Center for Urban Missions, and colon cancer will be the target of programs in Macon County in partnership with the B and D Cancer Care Center, a private organization.

Project Export will be an integral part of the center and make use of UAB’s research and training expertise in partnership with historically black colleges and universities in the state. “There is a need to recruit and train minorities as health workers, particularly in the Black Belt. A summer training program is planned in conjunction with the black colleges in order to prepare students for careers in allied health professions,” he said. “The expectation is that this will play a significant role in reducing poverty levels due in part to the very high level of unemployment, as well as help make health care more accessible in those areas.”

The project also will study the role of minority health status on treatment outcomes in patients with colon cancer and diabetes, and provide feedback to health care providers, he said.

The grant has four core components to be led by UAB faculty:

  • Research core, directed by Drs. Edward Partridge and Catarina Kiefe, with project leadership from Drs. Jeroan Allison, Michele Shipp and Mohamad Eloubeidi.

  • Community Outreach core, directed by Drs. Mona Fouad and Isabel Scarinci-Searles.

  • Training core, directed by Vickers and Drs. Louis Dale and Johnny Scott.

  • Administrative core, directed by Vickers.