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Disparities center gains official designation by Mary Helen Yarborough Public Relations After a year of assembling research teams to uncover the mysteries of health disparities among race, genders, and socioeconomic strata, the Center for Health Disparities Research (CHDR) has become an official center within the MUSC system.   In addition, its designation as a center enabled it to have greater access to state, federal and foundation funds.   Dr. Leonard Egede Lauding MUSC’s support, Leonard E. Egede, M.D., CHDR’s director, said the center now stands ready to tackle the challenges of numerous health disparities that exist not only in the Charleston area, but around the state.   “The center has increased the visibility of health disparities not only on campus, but in the community,” Egede said. “The university has made a major commitment by funding this center.”     MUSC, which formally recognized the center in October, is funding CHDR at $100,000 a year for three years. The center also receives matching funds of $100,000 a year for three years from the Department of Medicine. As a result of collaboration among investigators in the center, CHDR recently received a $1-million grant from the Veterans Health Administration to study the use of telemedicine for mental health disparities.   Egede has been with the center since its inception a year ago. He said he is encouraged by the participation and interest of students, researchers, faculty and clinicians to help understand disparities in health care. Egede also is confident that the intellectual and institutional commitment will eventually result in globally significant results.   “I would like to see the center become a nationally and internationally recognized center for research excellence in understanding and eliminating disparities in health care,” Egede said.   In spite of strides made to understand disparities in health care, more work needs to be done. This daunting task will be more achievable through a center devoted to eliminating health disparities, university officials said.   “Today, the population of South Carolina is healthier than ever, but within our communities we continue to have long-standing differentials in health,” said Raymond Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., MUSC president. “The Medical University is here to serve all, and therefore, we must redouble our efforts to address the needs of those who suffer a disproportionate burden of illness. The Center for Health Disparities will provide focus and coordination to our many efforts at eliminating these differentials.”   Established in 2005, CHDR has brought together a multidisciplinary team of more than 30 investigators from nearly every corner of campus to focus on three areas significant to disparities in health care: race/ethnicity, socioeconomic position, and gender. Specific research activities focus on chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, cancer, connective tissue diseases and mental health disorders. South Carolina leads the nation in rates of these and other diseases that disproportionately inflict minority victims.   CHDR also houses two fellowship programs. The General Academic Fellowship Program, supported by the Health Services and Resources Administration, is designed to prepare graduates of pediatric residencies and general internal medicine residencies. The National Research Service Award Fellowship Program in Health Services Research, supported by the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research, is designed to prepare physicians, postdoctoral nurses and pharmacists for productive academic careers in health services research. Each fellow earns a Master of Science in Clinical Research and develops a research project within the respective specialty area.   During MUSC’s Student Research Day Nov. 3, three of 13 competing students received health disparities research awards. Those winners were: Robert Campbell Jr., Ph.D., post- graduate fellow, won $500 and first place for his abstract, “The Burden of Disease among Patients of the Carolina Lupus Study: Humanistic, Clinical, and Economic Components.” Ashley Hambright, second-year medical student, won second place and $300 for her abstract: “The Development and Testing of the Psychometric Properties of the Multidimensional Trust in Medical Care System Scale.” Christine A. Walters, third-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, won third place and $200 for her abstract, “Traditional Coronary Risk Factors and Death from Coronary Heart Disease Among African-American and Caucasian Participants in Selected Black Pooling Project Cohorts.” In September, CHDR selected its first round of pilot project program winners who received up to $5,000 each for one-year projects for graduate or post-graduate students, fellows, or faculty from MUSC. The pilot studies are expected to serve as vehicles to collect preliminary data for subsequent competitive applications.   The six winners selected from 11 submissions from graduate and post graduate students were: Alicia M. Baros, Ph.D.; Project: Naltrexone and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Treatment of Alcohol Dependence: Do Gender Differences Exist? Award: $5,000 Eli Penn, M.D.; Project: Colon Cancer and Polyps: Racial Disparities in Prevalence and Incidence. Award: $3,450 Michael A. de Arellano, M.D.; Project: Trauma Exposure and Service Utilization among Hispanic Adults. Award: $5,000 John Chen, M.D.; Project: Racial Disparities in Prostate Cancer Care and Survival among Patients under Expectant Management. Award: $4,995 Tara Wright, M.D.; Project: Gender Differences in Inpatient Alcohol Detoxification. Award $4,500. Sudeep Bose, Ph.D.; Project: Analysis of Angiotensin Type 1 Receptor Signaling in PAX2 Expression in Prostate Cancer. Award: $5,000. All of these projects began Oct. 1 and are slated for completion Sept. 30. New Health Disparities Research Day To foster collaborative research and facilitate dissemination of innovative research ideas on health disparities, CHDR also has established a campuswide Health Disparities Research Day that will take place every February. This new initiative will start in February. The Health Disparities Research Day will be a half-day meeting (11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Gazes Auditorium) to provide a forum for researchers to present their work to a wide audience of interested faculty members, fellows, and graduate students. An independent panel will judge all submitted abstracts and awards will be given to the top three scoring abstracts.   For more information on these and other CHDR programs, contact Stephanie Brown-Guion, 876-1238; or e-mail browngu@musc.edu.     Friday, Nov. 17, 2006 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. 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