Health Disparities Research Awards announced by MUSC center

Health Disparities Research Awards announced by MUSC center

The MUSC Center for Health Disparities Research recently initiated two new award programs to encourage and support health disparities research at all stages of professional education and career development. In conjunction with MUSC’s 2006 Perry V. Halushka Student Research Day, the center provided cash prizes for the top three projects in health disparities research. The full list of SRD 2006 winners can be found at http://www2.musc.edu/Graduate/SRD/2006/Winners.html. The Student Research Day Health Disparities Research Awards went to:

1st place ($500.00): Robert Campbell, Jr
The Burden of Disease Among Patients of the Carolina Lupus Study: Humanistic, Clinical, and Economic Components

2nd place ($300.00): Ashley Hambright
The Development and Testing of the Psychometric Properties of the Multidimensional Trust in Medical Care System Scale

3rd place ($200.00): Christine A. Walters
Traditional Coronary Risk Factors and Death from Coronary Heart Disease Among African American and Caucasian Participants in Selected Black Pooling Project Cohorts

This fall the MUSC Center for Health Disparities implemented a Pilot Project Program. An open call for proposals was distributed campus-wide in August with a due date of Sept. 15. The Pilot Project Program offers awards of up to $5,000 per year for graduate or post-graduate students, fellows, or faculty at MUSC with the expectation that the studies will serve as vehicles to collect preliminary data for subsequent competitive applications. In the inaugural effort, eleven proposals were received, and six were funded with a one-year project period (10/01/2006 - 9/30/2007).

The awardees are:

Alicia M. Baros, PhD
Naltrexone and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Treatment of Alcohol Dependence: Do Gender Differences Exist

Eli Penn, MD
Colon Cancer and Polyps: Racial Disparities in Prevalence and Incidence

Michael A. de Arellano, MD
Trauma Exposure and Service Utilization among Hispanic Adults

John Chen, MD
Racial Disparities in Prostate Cancer Care and Survival among Patients under Expectant Management

Tara Wright, MD
Gender Differences in Inpatient Alcohol Detoxification

Sudeep Bose, PhD
Analysis of Angiotensin Type 1 Receptor Signaling in PAX2

The Center for Health Disparities Research is a research, training, and outreach program focused on eliminating racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender disparities in health. For more information, please visit the web site at http://healthdisparities.musc.edu/, or contact Dr. Leonard Egede, Director, or Stephanie Brown-Guion, Coordinator, at (843) 876-1238 or browngu@musc.edu.