April 15, 2008

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) will establish a research center to look at aging issues in minority populations. The Deep South Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (Deep South RCMAR) was approved by the Board of Trustees of the University of Alabama System.

The RCMAR will focus on health problems that are particularly prevalent among older African-Americans, and will give special attention to issues related to rural elders. The center will focus on intervention research addressing exercise, diet, or preventive health strategies and studies addressing socio-economic, discrimination, trust, and bioethical issues affecting both physical and mental health.

The Deep South RCMAR is funded by the National Institute on Aging and is a collaboration between UAB, the University of Alabama, Tuskegee University and Morehouse School of Medicine.

Besides conducting research aimed at reducing health disparities in older minorities, the center will increase the number of investigators working on aging issues, particularly as they affect minorities. The center will enhance diversity among the professional workforce conducting aging research and recruit African American older adults for research projects.

The center will be directed by Richard Allman, M.D., director of the UAB Center for Aging and the Division of Gerontology, Geriatrics and Palliative Care.