Proposed Program Overview. The Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science proposes to continue the enhancement and success of the Accelerating Excellence in Translational Science (AXIS) Center. AXIS has shown to be the integrated hub for research conducted at CDU and continues to provide experienced leadership, and a myriad of clinical, translational, and community partnered activities. In the next five years, research will continue to grow and expand its enterprise alongside the Universities vision and mission to be a leader in eliminating health disparities by translating scientific discoveries into education, training, clinical care, treatment, and community service in three areas of focus which disproportionally affect Service Planning Area 6: Cancer, Cardiometabolic Disease (CMD), and HIV/AIDS. In addition, we look to build upon the application of Precision Medicine to understand and eliminate health disparities, while utilizing many of CDU?s outstanding resources in: Advanced Technologies such as Next Generation Sequencing for identifying Genomic Data; Drug Discovery; Integrated Clinical Tissues, Biorepository and Bio banking Facility; Clinical Studies/Trials Resources; Medical Bioinformatics; and Methods for Statistical and Epidemiological Studies. This approach will pave the pathway for CDU?s in becoming a competitive institution with sophisticated resources and services to better serve our communities. To accomplish this, we propose to continue with the three programmatic goals that align with the mission, vision, and strategic plan for the universities research enterprise: Goal 1: To enhance the infrastructure capacity in translational research using Precision Medicine model in the areas of Cancer, Cardiometabolic, and HIV/AIDS. Provide support for the emerging research pillars in Mental Health and Health Services Goal 2: To continue the integration of basic, clinical, behavioral and community-partnered research by fostering collaboration among disciplines, departments and schools at CDU, and sustainable collaboration with community leaders and investigators across other research institutions. Goal 3: To facilitate and elevate professional development and best practices in mentored clinical and translational research training on minority health and health disparities.
The predominant ethnic and racial demographics of residents in South Los Angeles, Service Planning Area 6 is Hispanic/Latino (68%) and African American (27%). These communities reside in one of the most underserved and under-resourced location, where access to health care and socio- economic standards are lower than any other county in Los Angeles and in the US. As a result, these communities are more often diagnosed with chronic conditions associated with Obesity, Diabetes, Hypertension, Infectious Diseases, and Mental Health. The incidence, morbidity and mortality rates are highest from Cancer, Cardiovascular Diseases, and Infectious Diseases. Our proposed study will focus on understanding how these socio-economic and environmental factors impact cellular, molecular, genetic, and epigenetic drivers that cause poor health outcomes in our communities. Our study will provide opportunities for interventions to reduce health disparities.
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