Grants Fund Minority Initiatives Related to Hypertension and Kidney, Disease, Health Professions, Disparities, Other Issues
- Cleveland: NIH has given a five-year, $6 million grant to area researchers to study ways to reduce kidney disease and hypertension and increase organ donation among Cleveland's underserved minority communities, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. Researchers from MetroHealth, Cleveland State University, the Cleveland Department of Public Health, Case Western Reserve University's School of Medicine and University Hospitals Case Medical Center will join efforts to improve access to kidney transplants and encourage minority college students to pursue careers in medicine and practice in inner-city neighborhoods, according to the Plain Dealer. The effort will be led by Ashwini Sehgal, co-director of the CDPH and physician at MetroHealth (McEnery, Cleveland Plain Dealer, 10/5).
- Davidson County, Tenn.: HHS' Office of Minority Health has granted Meharry Medical College, the nation's oldest private historically black medical school, $1.2 million for an effort to increase minority physicians and health care professionals, the Tennessean reports. The school will provide training to students and increase services to indigent and minority patients, according to HHS. The program also seeks to increase the number of residents at Nashville General Hospital and will include documentation of the names and locations of job placements by medical and dental graduates in the past decade (Sledge, Tennessean, 10/10).
- El Paso, Texas: NIH's National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities has awarded the Hispanic Health Disparities Research Center a five-year, $6.8 million grant to examine health disparities and access issues in the Hispanic community, the El Paso Times reports. The center is a collaborative effort between the University of Texas-El Paso and the University of Texas-Houston School of Public Health. The grant money will be used to study Hispanics' adherence to HIV/AIDS treatments and the health needs of the community (Johnson, El Paso Times, 10/10).
- Visalia, Calif.: HHS on Tuesday awarded the Kaweah Delta Hospital, the San Juan Health Center and Alta Family Health Clinic a three-year, $525,000 grant to address childhood obesity among Hispanics, the Visalia Times-Delta reports. With the grant, the hospital will launch the Salud es Vida (Health is Life) program, which targets overweight Hispanic children and their families, Gwendolyn Bibb, director of community outreach for the hospital, said. She added that the goal is to reach at least 360 families by 2010 (Rocha, Visalia Times-Delta, 10/10).
- Washington, D.C.: The 2007 Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Health Summit: Navigating Towards Health & Well Being took place this week, seeking to improve the overall health status of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, the Honolulu Advertiser reports. According to the Advertiser, more than 100 participants discussed health disparities and health needs of Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities in the continental U.S., Hawaii and the Pacific Basin. They also addressed ways to improve access and quality of care for the group (Honolulu Advertiser, 10/10).
- West Virginia: CDC has given West Virginia a five-year, $415,390 grant to address minority health disparities in the state, the AP/Charleston Daily Mail reports. The grant will be used to address risk factors that contribute to diabetes among black residents in McDowell, Mercer and Fayette counties (AP/Charleston Daily Mail, 10/10).
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