The Center of Excellence on Race, Ethnicity and Health Disparities Research at the University of Maryland College Park (UMCP) is designed to be a vibrant contributor to the University of Maryland's re-invigorated land grant mission, which includes a commitment to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities and achieve health equity. Our goals are: 1) to establish and sustain a community engaged research enterprise on critical health disparities, 2) to raise the visibility of racial and ethnic health disparities and promisin solutions with Marylanders and 3) to facilitate action for change in the structural determinants of health in Maryland. To accomplish these goals, our Center of Excellence has the following objectives: 1. Increase the capacity and willingness of minority communities to participate in biomedical and public health research, including clinical trials;(All cores);2. Develop scientifically sound and culturally relevant, community based interventions designed to eliminate health disparities with a particular focus on reduction of cardiometabolic risk factors (obesity, diabetes, hypertension, dyslipdeima) experienced by Maryland's minority communities (Research Core);3. Conduct research to deepen our understanding of the factors shaping disparities in acceptance of existing and new immunizations designed to prevent emerging vaccine preventable diseases and translate those results into communication packages that will reduce such disparities (Research Core);4. Develop, implement and evaluate training programs focused on enabling researchers to successfully engage minority communities, integrate Public Health Critical Race Praxis and utilize Fourth Generation Research to achieve health equity (Research Training &Education Core);5. Initiate a health education and health promotion initiative, characterized by community engagement with grassroots and other partners throughout the state (Community Engagement and Outreach Core);6. Build capacity to influence policy making that addresses the structural determinants of health in the state (Community Engagement and Outreach Core).
The COE will also train the next generation of scholars in minority health and health disparity research and will strive to meet the goals of the national Healthy People 2020 initiative. With NIH support, we fully anticipate that the Center of Excellence in Race, Ethnicity and Health Disparities Research will excel in its explicit commitment to health disparities faced by racial and ethnic minority communities in Maryland.
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