UH-Hilo is a developing minority institution that has recently experienced a sharp growth in research activity but lacks the capacity to expand further and conduct health research. The goal of this proposal is to develop an infrastructure to initiate, support, and enhance health research on ethnic disparities. This will be organized, coordinated, and centered at UH-Hilo and the Chancellor will be the Principal Investigator. The program will be called the Hawaiian Health Research Consortium or Consortium for short. Under the auspices of the Consortium, we propose developing resource networks and activities to further the following three Aims/Areas of Emphasis: 1) Create the infrastructure, collaborative networks, and resources to enhance and support activities under Aims/Areas of Emphasis 2) and 3). An experienced senior health researcher has agreed to be Project Director to facilitate and direct these efforts with the assistance of the Administrative and other """"""""Cores."""""""" Infrastructure will include links to researchers and students in the MBRS and EPSCoR Programs at UH-Hilo. Partners at UH-Manoa's MBRS Program and Penn State's College of Human Development will further consult and assist on all aspects of Consortium development. 2) Train in health research methods interested UH-Hilo faculty and minority students from health-related disciplines (nursing, anthropology, sociology, biology, psychology, health & physical education, and geography). A training and mentoring program for students and faculty will be implemented by the Developmental and Biostatistics & Informatics """"""""Cores."""""""" It is anticipated that Consortium-trained students will elect to go to Penn State or UH-Manoa for graduate study in the health sciences. 3) With the assistance of the Developmental and a Scientific Working Group Core, promote, facilitate, and support health research by investigators with minority student involvement. This will include two projects identified here and in years 3-5 support for two investigators/year on a competitive basis. Projects will focus on ethnic disparities in maternal-neonatal health and children's health from post-neonatal through adolescence. Projects will be secondary database or primary data collection oriented. A crucial resource will be a computer lab with statistical software and health databases for training and analysis. We anticipate links to faculty, and students in the MBRS and EPSCoR programs will also result in beneficial research collaborations with CONSORTIUM researchers.
| Wolforth, Lynne Mackin; Loo, Sherry W; Sood, Sneha L (2016) Retinopathy of Prematurity and Ethnicity in Hawai'i: A Retrospective Study (1996 - 2006) of Medical Records from Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women and Children. Hawaii J Med Public Health 75:68-72 |
| Brown, Daniel E; Mautz, William J; Warrington, Miyako et al. (2010) Relation between C-reactive protein levels and body composition in a multiethnic sample of school children in Hawaii. Am J Hum Biol 22:675-9 |
| Affonso, Dyanne D; Shibuya, June Y; Frueh, B Christopher (2007) Talk-story: perspectives of children, parents, and community leaders on community violence in rural Hawaii. Public Health Nurs 24:400-8 |
