Faculty Research Development Core: The Core goals are to raise the sophistication level of the research conducted by faculty and to increase the number and quality of projects conducted within CHP. The Faculty Research Development Core seeks to build a cadre of competent researchers in the area of health disparities who can successfully compete for extramural funding. Particular emphasis will be directed to building the skill sets of minority faculty at least proportionate to their representation on the overall faculty. Efforts will be made to maintain the interest and retention of minority faculty members as the project progresses. It is important to note that as of this submission African American, Asian, Latino, and Native American faculty are represented in the planned research projects. This diversity was clearly sought as the project has been developed and provisions have been made to build competencies in some of the minority faculty who do not currently possess adequate foundations to build research agendas. As a part of this core, each interested faculty researcher will have at least one mentor. When the interested faculty members have clearly delineated a research topic and preliminary ideas on the nature of the research, they will be assigned to a mentor from our collaborating institution. In fact the mentor letters of agreement for projects that are more fully developed are contained as a part of this application. For those faculty members not yet clearly focused GSU mentors will be made available. In fact for two of the proposed research projects internal mentors have been working to build the expertise of the faculty. The purpose of the mentors is to ensure that faculty builds upon their existing repertoire of research skills and have support as they move forward with individual and interdisciplinary research projects. The research emphasis will continue to be health disparities in order to build on the identified program of research within the College of Health Professions (CHP). As indicated in the biographical sketches, Drs. Shen, Johnson, and Samson have already established some research experience in health disparities, Dr. Shen at the population level looking at access to care, and Drs. Johnson and Samson at the community and individual levels. Current research in the area of obesity in African American children, substance abuse in African American and Latino children, and ER utilization in the absence of access to primary care are among the ongoing projects. Faculty may choose to expand to other research areas during their careers as they build the skill set and funding track record to support such a move. Research activities identified during the capacity building process focus on areas of health disparities as they relate to Access to Care, Basic Science and Outcomes Research, Preventive Care and Social Medicine, with special orientations driven by the seven current disciplines in the CHP: Addictions Studies, Communication Disorders, Health Administration, Nursing, Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy and Social Work. Faculty will work closely with their mentors to develop and implement their projects supported by this grant. Cross-disciplinary research teams will be encouraged. Faculty will also be encouraged work with other external scholars and communities to accomplish their projects. Specific research projects that have been proposed under this grant cover such areas as substance abuse, access to care for children with cerebral palsy, access to care of Medicaid patients, access to care of uninsured, asthma in pregnancy, prevention of childhood obesity and diabetes, geriatric PT/OT services, anatomy and tissue research.
