The University of Illinois at Chicago proposes to establish a Midwest Latino MEDTEP Health Research Center to assess the effectiveness and appropriateness of health and medial services at the primary care level to Latino communities in Illinois and other midwestern states. The Latino population of the Midwest is experiencing rapid growth. Latinos in the region experience poor health status, and health data available are too limited for meaningful health planning, program development and implementation, or for public health policy formulation. The Center will involve researchers from a variety of UIC academic units as well as external partners including community-based health care providers, government agencies, and other educational institutions. The proposed UIC Center will have four main components: A) Planning, Research and Evaluation; B) Technical Assistance and Training: C) Resource and Information System; and D) Human Resource Development. The Planning Research and Evaluation component will carry out a series of outcome research activities (diabetes, asthma, pregnancy outcomes, etc.), some conducted in-house, and others, through outside contracts. This component will develop research instruments and assessment tools. The Training and Technical Assistance component will provide skill-building activities to community and professional groups, and graduate students aimed at knowledge and technology transfer and cultural competency for health outcomes research among Latinos. The Resource and Information System will develop the necessary mechanisms (newsletter, computer network, etc.) for resource-sharing and communications with patients/clients, providers, policy-makers and researchers. The Human Resource Development component will provide research assistant and internship experiences to latino graduate students interested in health outcome research activities at UIC. Mentors will be identified and matched to students according to areas of interest when they enter graduate work at UIC. The Midwest MEDTEP Latino Research Center will have an oversight Regional Advisory Committee of Latino, and non-latino health and research experts, health care providers, consumers an community leaders from the Midwest region who will guide the Center in its three year development phase and plan its future activities.
| Tilley, Barbara C; Elm, Jordan Jaskwhich (2002) Improving health outcomes in diverse and vulnerable populations: building on the experience of the Centers for Medical Treatment Effectiveness in Diverse Populations (MEDTEP). Ethn Health 7:227-30 |
