January 19, 2001
Trans-NIH Collaboration Funds Studies in Minority Health Disparities
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, in collaboration with six other NIH components, and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, announced Jan. 4 12 five-year projects to study how physical and environmental factors negatively impact the health of racial and ethnic minorities. A total of $33 million has been allocated over the five years. This partnership is the first trans-NIH collaboration designed to address the Department of Health and Human Services' Initiative to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health. The principal investigators receiving the grants are:
- Redford B. Williams, Duke University Medical Center, will study how the stress of being a care giver for a spouse with Alzheimer's, along with other socially-related stressors, can contribute to negative health behaviors.
- Brian S. Schwartz, Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene & Public Health, will explore how lead absorption, genetics, social and behavioral factors, social context and blood pressure contribute to the racial and socioeconomic disparity in the decline in cognitive functioning that occurs in elderly people.
- Lawrence M. Schell, State University of New York-Albany, New York, seeks to determine the relationship between exposure to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and thyroid function and psychosocial measures in a population of Mohawk adolescents living along the St. Lawrence River in upstate New York.
- John W. Frank, University of California-Berkeley, will examine the interaction of psychosocial and physical-ergonomic factors on the incidence of negative health outcomes in a population of healthcare workers.
- Rosalind J. Wright, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard University School of Public Health, will study the role of physical environmental agents and psychosocial factors in the increasing incidence of childhood asthma, particularly among socioeconomically disadvantaged children in inner city areas.
- Hester J. Lipscomb of Duke University and collaborators at the University of North Carolina and the Center for Women's Economic Alternatives will attempt to quantify the incidence of negative health outcomes among women in a five-county region in northeastern North Carolina as a result of racial discrimination and fast-paced assembly line production.
- Jose Szapocznick, University of Miami, will study the built environment of elderly Hispanic residents in a low-socioeconomic neighborhood in East Little Havana, Florida.
- Carolyn A. Berry, Northwestern University, Chicago, Ill., will study the racial disparities in the incidence of pediatric asthma among low-income African American, Latino and Caucasian elementary school-aged children.
- Craig Slatin, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, will examine the work environment as a primary influence on health-related quality of life endpoints such as musculoskeletal disorders, various types of acute injuries, and mental health conditions.
- Amy J. Schulz, University of Michigan, will examine how race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status, demographic factors, and exposure to environmental toxicants can lead to racial and socioeconomic disparity in the risk of cardiovascular disease.
- Carlos Mendes de Leon, Rush-Presbyterian St. Luke Medical Center, will test whether greater biological risk factors and adverse neighborhood conditions can lead to disparities in disability in older people.
- Marilyn A. Winkleby, Stanford University will assess the role of the neighborhood environment and other individual risk factors in predicting deaths, including those from cardiovascular disease.
Information: Erica Froyd, AAMC Office of Governmental Relations, 202-828-0525.
