January 16, 2009
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Mona Fouad, M.D., M.P.H., director of the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center and professor of medicine in the UAB Division of Preventive Medicine, has been appointed to the National Advisory Council on Minority Health and Health Disparities by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt. The appointment is effective immediately.
As a member of the advisory council, Fouad will provide advice and make recommendations regarding research, training, health information dissemination and other programs of the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities.
"I am honored by the appointment," said Fouad, whose research studies, totaling $50 million, have one overarching theme: minority health and health disparities. "The reasons for health disparities are complex, and we need to involve the scientific and medical communities, government agencies, and all stakeholders in expanding and encouraging minority health and health disparities research and training programs. Health equity is a shared responsibility."
In her new role, Fouad will participate in the development of a comprehensive strategic plan that establishes objectives, priorities, policies and budgets governing the conduct of all NIH minority health and health disparities research and training activities. She also will provide leadership in expanding the pool of experienced investigators in the areas of minority health and health disparities research.
Fouad is the founding director of the UAB Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center (MHRC), a comprehensive research, training and community-outreach center with a mission to reduce and eventually eliminate health disparities. The center serves as the umbrella of health disparities research at UAB and the Southeast. It includes a diverse multidisciplinary group of more than 200 faculty members and fosters partnerships with UAB schools and centers, academic programs, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), state agencies and grassroots organizations.
About the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities: The Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was established to promote minority health and to lead, coordinate, support, and assess the NIH effort to reduce and ultimately eliminate health disparities. In this effort NCMHD conducts and supports basic, clinical, social, and behavioral research, promotes research infrastructure and training, fosters emerging programs, disseminates information, and reaches out to minority and other health disparity communities. The NCMHD programs also focus on building a diverse, culturally competent research workforce to eliminate health disparities.