Research Center of Excellence on Minority Health Disparities

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Research Center of Excellence on Minority Health Disparities

About

The University of Maryland Center for Health Equity (CHE) began its work in earnest in the fall of 2010 with the arrival of Dr. Stephen Thomas, Professor of Health Services Administration, as center director. He is joined by Dr. Sandra Quinn, Associate Dean for Public Health Initiatives and Professor of Family Science as senior associate director along with Dr. James Butler, Dr. Craig Fryer, and Dr. Mary Garza, all Assistant Professors in Behavioral and Community Health and associate directors in the new center. Together they represent the largest cluster hire in the history of the University of Maryland, College Park. The CHE is a designated TIER 3: Campus-wide Research Initiative Program (CRI) charged with providing support for development of broad, multidisciplinary research initiatives that will position the university to become a national leader in elimination of racial and ethnic health disparities aimed toward achieving the nation's Healthy People 2020 goal of health equity. The CHE is administratively headquartered in the SPH’s Office of the Dean .

Dr. Thomas and Quinn bring two significant NIH grants to the Center for Health Equity. They are the Principal Investigators on Building Trust between Minorities and Researchers: A National Bioethics Research Infrastructure Initiative Grant award ($2.6M), funded by the Office of the NIH Director and the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD).

The Minority Health and Health Equity Archive has a goal to be the primary repository and archive for all materials related to minority health.
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On this page we bring you critical information on Race, Ethnicity and Health Disparities Research from websites identified by the Maryland Center for Health Equity Directors.

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On this page we bring you collection of materials on Race, Ethnicity and Health Disparities Research.

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Join the Health Equity Movement from University of Maryland on Vimeo.

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The University of Maryland Center for Health Equity (CHE) began its work in earnest this fall with the arrival of Dr. Stephen Thomas, Professor of Health Services Administration, as center director. He is joined by Dr.Sandra Quinn, Associate Dean for Public Health Initiativesand Professor of Family Science as senior associate director along with Dr. James Butler, Dr. Craig Fryer, and Dr. Mary Garza, all Assistant Professors in Behavioral and Community Health and associate directors in the new center. Together they represent the largest cluster hire in the history of the University of Maryland, College Park.

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MISSION

Our mission is to establish and sustain a community engaged research enterprise on critical health disparities, 2) to raise the visibility of racial and ethnic health disparities and promising solutions with Marylanders and 3) to facilitate action for change in the structural determinants of health in Maryland.

VISION

Our vision is to be a vibrant contributor to the University’s re-invigorated land grant mission with the inclusion of the elimination of racial and ethnic disparities to achieve health equity.

	Additionally, Dr. Thomas (PI) and Dr. Quinn (co-PI) bring the Comprehensive Research Center of Excellence in Minority Health Disparities grant award ($2.2M), also funded by the NIH-NIHMHD. These two grants provide initial support for a scientifically sound foundation to continue their community engagement and research activities locally and across the nation. Drs. Thomas and Quinn also bring their commitment and expertise in training post-doctoral fellows and faculty committed to academic careers in minority health and health disparity research. In addition to serving as co-investigators on the two grant awards above, Drs. Fryer and Garza are each recipients of new Mentored Research Career Development Awards to Promote Faculty Diversity (K01) from the NIH-National Cancer Institute. Dr. Fryer’s new 5-year K01 award, entitled Correlates of Nicotine Dependence among Urban African American Youth, examines critical social, cultural, and environmental factors of addiction and symptoms of withdrawal among urban smokers utilizing mixed methods research. Dr. Garza begins her new three year KO1 award entitled African Americans and Colorectal Cancer: Risks and Screening in Urban Populations with a focus on understanding individual level factors and neighborhood level factors using multilevel modeling techniques. Dr. Butler begins year two of his five year K01 award titled “Assessing Psychosocial Factors Influencing Cigarette Smoking Among African American Public Housing Residents with a focus on understanding contextual factors (physical and cultural) driving tobacco related health disparities in this population. The theoretical and scientific thrust of the new center is described in the article, Toward a Fourth Generation of Health Disparities Research to Achieve Health Equity, published in the Prestigious 2011 Annual Review of Public Health. With offices on the third floor of the School of Public Health, Dr. Thomas and the CHE leadership team express their thanks and appreciation for the warm Terp welcome they have received since arriving on campus.

	Mission
	Our mission is 1) to establish and sustain a community engaged research enterprise on critical health disparities, 2) to raise the visibility of racial and ethnic health disparities and promising solutions with Marylanders and 3) to facilitate action for change in the structural determinants of health in Maryland.



	Vision
	Our vision is to be a vibrant contributor to the University’s re-invigorated land grant mission with the inclusion of the elimination of racial and ethnic disparities to achieve health equity.