Currently 1 in 10 US adults (about 24 million people) has Type 2 diabetes, and projections suggest that 1 in 3 people may be affected in 2050 if current trends continue. The prevalence of diabetes and associated cardiovascular disease, retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy are worse in vulnerable populations among Native Americans, African Americans, and Latinos. The science of evidence-based clinical care guidelines provides a roadmap to health for people with diabetes. However, CDC reports that adherence to care guidelines varies between 50% - 60% of people with diabetes. This gap between science and practice is the rationale for the UNC Center for Diabetes Translation Research to Reduce Health Disparities. The mission of the Center is to transform the health of people with, or at risk for type 1, type 2, or gestational diabetes or related conditions in North Carolina and beyond its borders by advancing translational sciences in North Carolina and beyond that result in primary or secondary prevention of diabetes and its complications. The study aims are 1) develop an integrated set of cores and programs that coalesce and focus existing resources to translate research advances into clinical and community practice that reduce diabetes-related health disparities as measured in part by a) Center utilization, b) tracking subsequent publications and extramural awards, and c) tracking primary outcomes from research findings as a marker for potential public health improvement;2) leverage existing UNC research infrastructures to enhance the research resources of the Center, including the UNC Diabetes Center, the NC Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute (CTSA), the Sheps Center for Health Services Research, the Lineberger Cancer Center, and other NIDDK funded resources such as the NORC Nutrition Communication for Health Applications, Interventions (CHAI) Core, and relevant NIDDK-funded T32 programs;and 3) develop an Enrichment Program to enhance interactions and promote scientific exchange of translational research methods with diabetes researchers or trainees, and other investigators representing fields relevant to diabetes disparities at UNC-CH and UNC-P and other consortium members. The UNC Center is poised to achieve its aims that may result in increased productivity of diabetes translation science, the health of people with diabetes, and the reduction of health disparities among people with diabetes.
This project aims to coordinate and integrate diabetes translation resources among consortium members including UNC at Chapel Hill, UNC at Pembroke, Robeson County Health Department, Wake Forest University, and East Carolina University that result in critically important research findings that reduce health disparities in people with diabetes or its related conditions.
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