U.S. children are increasingly from non-majority racial/ethnic backgrounds; these are the groups at highest risk for health inequities, and by 2045, the U.S. population will be ?majority minority?. Children in lower socioeconomic status (SES) families have poorer access to health care, resulting in greater risk of chronic diseases as adults. The major adult chronic diseases affect 1 in 3 adults and account for more than 75% of US health care spending. The major childhood determinants of adult disease are distinctly societal and nonmedical: poverty, poor education, unhealthy social and physical environments, and unhealthy lifestyles options. However, the current U.S. biomedical workforce lacks scientists trained to address child health inequities and lacks diversity in the workforce to better engage underserved minority populations in research. To fill these gaps, we propose the Child Health Equity Research Program for Post-doctoral Trainees (CHERPP-T), a mentored, research project-based training program that provides didactic training in rigorous health services and clinical research methodologies, experiential research training, career development, opportunities for community-academic partnerships, and a long-term network of mentors, collaborators, and partners. The program will focus heavily on recruiting trainees from underrepresented racial/ethnic minority groups (URM) by leveraging existing relationships with predoctoral and early career URM pipeline programs for academic pediatricians. Health equity research will be defined as work that aims to improve or examine outcomes for four main health disparity populations defined in the NIMHD Framework (race/ethnicity, low SES, rural, sexual/gender minority). Doctoral level trainees will develop an independent research career focused on achieving health equity across multiple domains and levels of influence on health, and acquire skills to improve health outcomes at the level of the individual, family/organization, community, and population. We request two trainees in year one and four trainees in subsequent years (two 1st year and two 2nd year fellows).
The Specific Aims are to: 1. Recruit outstanding URM fellows from a national applicant pool with attention to diversity in clinical and academic backgrounds, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity and gender; 2. Equip fellows with a strong background in health equity research methodology and research skills; 3. Support fellows in completion of an impactful, rigorous research project; and 4. Establish and maintain a supportive and collaborative network of mentors for fellows. CHERPP-T's long term impact will be to increase URMs who are independently funded scientists in child health fields, and by nature of their focus on child health equity and health disparities, CHERPP-T will also lead to an increase in the numbers of underserved children, youth, and families enrolled and engaged in biomedical research. These two key program impacts will in turn contribute greatly to reducing inequities in child health.
We propose the Child Health Equity Research Program for Post-doctoral Trainees (CHERPP-T), a mentored, research project-based training program that provides didactic training in rigorous health services and clinical research methodologies, experiential research training, career development, opportunities for community- academic partnerships, and a long-term network of mentors, collaborators, and partners. The program will focus heavily on recruiting underrepresented minority (URM) trainees by leveraging existing relationships with predoctoral and early career URM pipeline programs for academic pediatricians. CHERPP-T will increase URM faculty scientists in pediatrics as well as address major gaps in child health equity research capacity, both of which will reduce inequities in child health.
