The overall goal of the project proposed herein is to provide researchers at the University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA) the ability to form partnerships with school communities, Community Based Organizations (CBO) and primary healthcare practitioners in the Lower Rio Grande Valley (LRGV) region of South Texas for the purpose of developing and conducting translational research on childhood, adolescent and adult obesity. The need for solutions to health disparities-related diseases is especially great in the LRGV region due to the high prevalence of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular, cancer and infectious diseases. The proposed project will provide a timely opportunity for UTPA researchers to formulate partnerships with the community it serves, to work together in finding solutions to obesity prevalence in the LRGV. The opportunity to involve the community at the very onset of developing a long-term research agenda on obesity is a sound approach that will provide UTPA researchers with a clear understanding of the questions to be investigated. The specific objectives of the proposed project are as follows: 1. To establish partnerships between UTPA and LRGV school dietitians, school health education teachers, school nurses, community based organizations and primary care practitioners for the purpose of conducting health disparities-related workshops on childhood, adolescent and adult obesity. 2. To identify the LRGV community's need and research priorities on childhood, adolescent and adult obesity. 3. To form an alignment between the identified obesity problems and UTPA's research priorities. 4. To develop a research agenda to be utilized in phase II of this NIH initiative in preparing grant applications with research emphasis on childhood, adolescent and adult obesity. ? ? ? ?
