The star rating system for English NHS trusts seems to have improved performance, but systems need to be put in place to minimise gaming and ensure targets are not causing problems elsewhere, warn researchers in this week's
Doctors and nurses in the UK have been issued with new guidelines to help them identify patients who may be malnourished.The guidelines are an attempt to eradicate a problem which apparently costs the National Health Service millions every year
As part of a unique program to get pediatric residents to think outside the box, Indiana University School of Medicine pediatric residents are being taught to reach their patients outside the conf
According to a newly released survey, regardless of increased government spending, sexual health clinics in Britain are worse now than they were three years ago.The survey which was commissioned by the
A survey of 200 hospitals found that nearly 80 percent do not require board certification of pediatricians at the time of initial granting of hospital privileges, although most hospitals do require board certification at some point in the pediatrician'
Resuscitation policies in care homes and community hospitals should be reviewed, argue experts in this week's British Medical Journal. Current guidelines require all NHS facilities to provide card
Some of the key elements for success in the rapid treatment of heart attacks have been identified by researchers at Yale School of Medicine in a recent issue of
Much has been written about the enormous effort required to take scientific discovery from the laboratory bench to the patient's bedside. In the Supplement to the February issue of the
Medicare must change the way that it values and reimburses physician services to prevent a collapse of primary care medicine in the U.S., the president of the American College of Physicians (ACP) to
NHS surgeons are being left to "pick up the pieces" after poor surgery at private treatment centres, warns a senior doctor in the British Medical Journal. "The number of patients we are seeing wit
"Eliminating health disparities as they affect racial, ethnic, and underserved populations is a critical goal of the department," Secretary Leavitt said. "These funds are essential to support the innovative scientific solutions our nation needs to close the health gap in this country."
The NCMHD was designated by the Congress to lead, coordinate, support, and assess the NIH research effort to reduce and ultimately eliminate health disparities as they affect racial and ethnic communities and medically underserved individuals.
"The NIH continues to lead the nation's scientific discovery," according to NIH Director Dr. Elias Zerhouni. "The innovative biomedical, behavioral, and social sciences research at NIH will help to identify cutting-edge diagnostics, treatments, and preventive strategies to address this public health crisis."
"The NCMHD continues to strengthen partnerships between the NIH and institutions and individuals engaged in health disparities research to build the inclusive, collaborative biomedical and behavioral research enterprise we need to win the fight to eliminate health disparities," said Dr. John Ruffin, Director, NCMHD. "Presently, the national reach of the NCMHD extends to more than 100 institutions and more than 600 individuals that have received awards to train for health professions careers, conduct health disparities research, build research capacity, and advance outreach efforts."
The following fiscal year (FY) 2005 awards were made by the NCMHD:
New NCMHD Community-Based Participatory Research Program (CBPR) awards totaling $12 million have been made to 25 institutions. The CBPR aims to develop effective community-based participatory research programs, which will accelerate both the translation of research advances to health disparity communities and the elimination of health disparities. Key research areas in which NCMHD community partners will engage include cancer, cardiovascular diseases, child health improvement, diabetes, HIV/AIDS and obesity. Awards totaling $15.9 million have been made to four institutions under the NCMHD Research Endowment Program for the purpose of facilitating minority health disparities research and other health disparities research. The activities of the institutions involve strengthening teaching programs in the biomedical and behavioral sciences; establishing endowed chairs and programs; obtaining state-of-the-art equipment for instruction and research; and enhancing the recruitment and retention of student and faculty from health disparity populations. New awards totaling $8 million have been made to five academic institutions under the NCMHD Centers of Excellence in Partnerships for Community Outreach, Research on Health Disparities and Training (Project EXPORT) Program. Awards support the establishment of new university partnerships; new partnerships between universities and health disparity community organizations; innovative basic and intervention research studies on breast, prostate, and pancreatic cancers, human papillomavirus (HPV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), diabetes, cultural resilience, adolescent risk behaviors, cardiovascular disease; and training programs to increase the number of individuals from health disparity populations entering the health professions and conducting research on health disparities. Awards totaling $10.7 million have been issued to 244 qualified health professionals under the NCMHD Loan Repayment Programs. These programs promote a diverse and strong scientific workforce, alleviating the financial barriers that often discourage many talented health professionals from health disparity, medically underserved and disadvantaged communities from pursuing a research career. The Loan Repayment Programs provide loan repayment of up to $35,000 per year to qualified doctoral degree professionals in exchange for two years of service in health disparities research or clinical research. Awards totaling $5.4 million have been made to 24 institutions under the NCMHD Minority Health and Health Disparities International Research Training (MHIRT) Program in partnership with the Fogarty International Center. The MHIRT Program supports innovative programs that offer international research training opportunities to qualified undergraduate, graduate, and health professions students who are from health disparities populations and/or are underrepresented in basic science, biomedical, clinical, or behavioral health research career fields. Awards will support research on subjects such as epidemiology of dengue fever, neurobiology, molecular and immunological aspects of tropical medicine and parasitology, virology, drug design and antibiotics, and public health and immigrant health. Students will travel and work with investigators in countries such as Mexico, Uganda, Ghana, Australia, Peru, Spain and South Africa. New awards totaling $3.8 million have been made to five minority-serving institutions under the NCMHD Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) Program. The RIMI Program focuses on building research capacity in predominantly minority-serving academic institutions that offer one or more associate, baccalaureate, and/or master's degrees in the life sciences, behavioral sciences, and/or other health-related areas. Awards totaling $1.1 million have been made to six small business concerns under the Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/STTR) program. These programs are designed for small business concerns to engage in federal research with the potential for commercialization; and, to develop and facilitate cooperative research and development between small business concerns and research institutions in the United States, with the potential for commercialization.A list of the FY 2005 grantees follows.
NCMHD Community-Based Participatory Research Program InstitutionCityStateUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks FairbanksAlaskaUniversity of Arizona College of Public Health TucsonArizonaUniversity of California Los AngelesCaliforniaRAND Corporation Santa MonicaCaliforniaUniversity of Colorado Denver/Health Science Center Aurora AuroraColoradoGeorgia State University AtlantaGeorgiaUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa HonoluluHawaiiMountain States Group BoiseIdahoNorthwestern University EvanstonIllinoisUniversity of Michigan at Ann Arbor Ann ArborMichiganSaint Louis University Saint LouisMissouriInstitute for Urban Family Health New YorkNew YorkMount Sinai School of Medicine New YorkNew YorkNew York University School of Medicine New YorkNew YorkYeshiva University BronxNew YorkUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel HillNorth CarolinaDuke University School of Medicine DurhamNorth CarolinaCleveland State University ClevelandOhioUniversity of Pennsylvania PhiladelphiaPennsylvaniaAberdeen Area Tribal Chairmen's Health Board Rapid CitySouth DakotaUniversity of Texas Pan American EdinburghTexasUniversity of Texas El Paso El PasoTexasFred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center SeattleWashingtonUniversity of Washington SeattleWashingtonMedical College of Wisconsin MilwaukeeWisconsinNCMHD Research Endowment Program InstitutionCityStateCharles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science Los AngelesCaliforniaMorehouse School of Medicine AtlantaGeorgiaUniversity of New Mexico, School of Medicine AlbuquerqueNew MexicoUniversity of Puerto Rico Medical Sciences Campus, School of Dentistry San JuanPuerto RicoNCMHD Centers of Excellence in Partnerships for Community Outreach, Research on Health Disparities, and Training (Project EXPORT) Program InstitutionCityStateLoma Linda University Loma Linda CaliforniaUniversity of Connecticut Storrs StorrsConnecticutUniversity of South Carolina at Columbia ColumbiaSouth CarolinaUniversity of South Dakota VermillionSouth DakotaUniversity of North Texas Health Science Center Fort WorthTexasNCMHD Minority Health and Health Disparities International Research Training (MHIRT) Program
InstitutionCityStateUniversity of Alabama at Birmingham BirminghamAlabamaUniversity of Arizona TucsonArizonaUniversity of California Irvine IrvineCaliforniaUniversity of California Santa Cruz Santa CruzCaliforniaCalifornia State University Fullerton FullertonCaliforniaSan Diego State University San DiegoCaliforniaHoward University WashingtonDistrict of ColumbiaFlorida Agricultural and Mechanical University TallahasseeFloridaFlorida International University MiamiFloridaUniversity of Iowa Iowa CityIowaTulane University of Louisiana New OrleansLouisiana Johns Hopkins University BaltimoreMarylandUniversity of Michigan at Ann Arbor Ann ArborMichiganAlcorn State University AlcornMississippiCollege at Old Westbury AlbanyNew YorkCornell University Ithaca Ithaca New YorkMount Sinai School of Medicine of New York University New YorkNew YorkElizabeth City State University Elizabeth CityNorth CarolinaPennsylvania State University- University Park University ParkPennsylvaniaUniversity of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras San JuanPuerto RicoChristian Brothers University MemphisTennesseeUniversity of Texas El Paso El Paso TexasHampton University HamptonVirginiaUniversity of Washington SeattleWashingtonNCMHD Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) Program InstitutionCityStateCalifornia State University Los Angeles Los Angeles CaliforniaUniversity of the District of Columbia Washington District of ColumbiaSouthern University Shreveport-Bossier ShreveportLouisianaUniversity of Texas at Brownsville and Texas Southmost College BrownsvilleTexasNorfolk State University NorfolkVirginiaNCMHD Small Business Innovative Research and Small Business Technology Transfer (SBIR/SBTT) Program InstitutionCityStateNora, LLC. Baltimore MarylandEva Pharmaceutical, LLC. RochesterNew YorkPolyglot Systems, Inc. MorrisvilleNorth CarolinaPoint Vista Software, LLC. EugeneOregonVirogenomics, Inc. TigardOregonC-Three Scientific Corporation SeattleWashingtonhttp://www.nih.gov/