National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities awards College of Health and Human Services $5 million to research health disparities
The College of Health and Human Services at Governors State University is proud to announce that it has been awarded more than $5 million from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD).
The award funds the College’s newly established "Building Capacity in Health Disparities Research" program for five years, from September 2006 through September 2011, and provides an opportunity for College faculty to develop community-based research projects with experienced research mentors from the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Operating under the College's Institute for the Care and Study of Vulnerable Populations, Building capacity in Health Disparities Research (HDR) will have positive and far-reaching implications for health care for minorities and underserved populations, particularly in the Chicago southland.
Eliminating Health Disparities
The goal of the National Institutes of Health’s National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) is to eliminate health disparities among racial and ethnic minorities. One of the ways it accomplishes this is by providing funding for colleges, like the College of Health and Human Services, to develop their health disparities research infrastructure, foster faculty development, and encourage students to go on to graduate studies in health-related fields.
With NCMHD funding, the College of Health and Human Services at Governors State University will expand its research and community commitments to eliminate health disparities.
HDR Capacity and Development Goals
The College’s mission has evolved over the last five years to embrace a translational research model – collaborative research with the community that allows the College to produce research results that can improve health care and reduce disparities responsively, and with a fuller understanding of the communities it serves. It will continue this research model through Health Disparities Research (HDR).
The HDR Program in the College of Health and Human Services has been designed to meet six goals:
Prepare faculty to conduct high-level research with and for the communities the College serves
Encourage students to continue their education and earn both professional and research doctorates
Create a collaborative environment within the University that can draw upon the academic resources of the institution’s five colleges – Health and Human Services, Education, Business and Public Administration, Arts and Sciences, and University College
Build a sustainable, independently-funded research program that will continue to address health disparity issues after the conclusion of HDR funding
Guide faculty in career development
Support the Center for the Care and Study of Vulnerable Populations