As part of the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education Act of 2000, federally funded researchers were challenged to adopt research models combining social, behavioral, clinical, and basic science. It is increasingly apparent that health disparities can only be understood and fully addressed from a population health perspective. A model for this perspective was included in the Overview section to this proposal (Figure 2). The research and community foci of this application include multidisciplinary teams and multilevel interventions and will require investigators trained from that perspective. We will provide training in culturally appropriate community-based research by introducing pre- and postdoctoral trainees from different backgrounds to the multiple levels in which public health professionals must be fluent in order to effectively impact health disparities. We will recruit and assist interested minority faculty in retooling and advancing their research skills to become leaders in this field, and challenge faculty from multiple disciplines in our academic environment to more fully engage in the multilevel methodology necessary to implement our ecological model for addressing health disparities. We will do this by creating an environment involving cross-disciplinary discussions, including researchers, community partners and local policy makers;developing a new certificate in the conduct of health disparities research that will be open to qualified students, faculty and community members;building on the solid array of academic courses already available at UIC that are relevant to health disparities research. We will also use this opportunity to recruit high school and undergraduate students to the field of health disparities in conjunction with our community partners.
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