There is a striking disparity in the burden of stroke for race-ethnic minorities (African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans vs. Non-Hispanic Whites (NHWs) in the United States (US). The impact of these disparities translates to huge economic costs for the US. Adding to the sense of urgency is a substantial projected future widening of stroke prevalence in the US for race-ethnic minorities. As a society, we need to have a better understanding of the causes for these disparities, and test solutions to reduce them, but too few studies to date have demonstrated substantial reductions in stroke outcome disparities. Moreover, fostering the successful development of the next generation of stroke disparities researchers is crucial to resolving this growing challenge. The Health Equity & Actionable Disparities in Stroke: Understanding & Problem-solving (HEADS-UP) symposium, is a multidisciplinary forum focused on race-ethnic disparities in cerebrovascular disease, with the overarching goal of reducing disparities in stroke and accelerating translation of research findings to improve outcomes for race-ethnic minorities who reside in the US. HEADS-UP 2020 will be held on February 18, 2020 in Los Angeles, California, featuring plenary talks by distinguished researchers, career development activities, and poster sessions. HEADS-UP 2020 will focus on the various determinants of racial stroke disparities. HEADS-UP 2020 is a collaborative initiative with the American Stroke Association (ASA) and will occur a day before the start of the ASA?s two and half International Stroke Conference, the premier global stroke science meeting, where > 5000 stroke scientists from all over the world gather to present their research & network. Involvement of ASA brings to this important effort, wide access to relevant scientific disciplines, volunteer engagement from leaders in the field, financial support, worthwhile in-kind resources, and proven experience in implementing high impact programs. Basic scientists, translational researchers and clinicians, seasoned investigators and early career scientists will be invited, but a major emphasis is to encourage active involvement of an early career cohort of investigators. HEADS-UP 2020 Specific Aims are: To host a forum which will identify knowledge gaps and provide opportunities for researchers from diverse disciplines to discuss cutting-edge research about race-ethnic disparities in stroke; 2) To accelerate collaborations via networking opportunities among stakeholders; 3) To award travel scholarships to 20 multidisciplinary Post-Doctoral Scholars from a national pool from diverse professional backgrounds committed to stroke disparities research careers; 4) To disseminate knowledge generated from HEADS-UP via scientific & public venues; 5) To evaluate effectiveness of HEADS-UP by assessing number of attendees, and Young Awardee Achievements.
We need to enhance our collective ability to reduce the overall immense burden of stroke on society, and its disproportionate toll on race-ethnic minorities. The goal of this one-day symposium in February 2020 is to partner with the pre-eminent national stroke society to encourage more research into disparities around stroke, by providing leading edge science aimed particularly at scientists from various professional and scientific disciplines, with an interest in health equity and disparities research. Special efforts will be made to sponsor some early career scientists and invite under-represented in medicine minority scholars to participate.
