Dr. Maxine Nunez is a Professor in Nursing, whose educational background is in public healthnursing, public health administration , comprehensive health planning, and public healthresearch. Dr. Nunez is Director of the Research Core. As a native Virgin Islander, herknowledge of health problems of the territories is expansive. She will continue to be mentoredby Drs .Campbell and Tull.The existence of health disparities in the U. S. Virgin Islands has been confirmed by statistics onthe high incidence of diabetes, hypertension, stroke, HIV/AIDS and obesity. Additionally, theVirgin Islands Department of Health reports increasing instances of immigrant pregnant womenwho receive no prenatal care and only report to the hospital in time to deliver infants, sometimespreterm. The newly opened Charlotte Kimmelman Cancer Institute underscores the increasingnumbers of individuals with cancer in the territory who need to receive services to treat thisdisease. Access to care issues prevails as health care providers encounter populationaggregates that are poorly informed about health risks and symptoms. The 2004 HouseholdSurvey conducted by the Eastern Caribbean Center of the University of the Virgin Islandsconfirms economic hardships of large segments of the population that prevent timely access tocare. This survey reports the percent of persons who live below the poverty level in the territoryat 27.4% compared to approximately 13% in the U.S., and the percent of households below thepoverty level.The Research Core of the Export Center has stimulated research activity in diabetes, cancer,obesity and HIV/AIDS and will continue to advance research in these areas, expanding beyondpilot study investigations to full research studies with additional funding support from a P20Center.
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