Grant Funding Blog

Culturally Sensitive Intervention for Peripheral Arterial Disease
PHDR investigator Tracie Collins, PhD, MPH has received funding from the President's Faculty Multicultural Research Award for her study "Minority Awareness of Peripheral Arterial Disease". The funding of $7,000 is designated for one year. This study seeks to identify peripheral arterial disease awareness among minority groups within the Twin Cities and to address culturally sensitive ways (e.g., Internet based programs) to improve disease knowledge.

Psychosocial Factors and Stroke Risk
PHDR researcher Susan Everson-Rose, PhD, MPH has received $744,000 in funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute for her study "Psychosocial Factors and Stroke Risk in a Biracial Population". This 33-month study is designed to determine whether vulnerability to stress and/or increased stress exposure contributes to disparities in stroke risk between blacks and whites. Findings seek to inform future stoke prevention efforts, in particular, excess stroke risk among African Americans.

Secondhand Smoke and Children
PHDR researcher Jennifer Warren, PhD was recently awarded $126,863 by ClearWay Minnesota. This 18-month study is designed in partnership with Le Creche' Early Child Development Center to investigate parental and other adult secondhand smoke (SMS) exposure among lower-income, inner-city African American parents of children 6 weeks to 5 years of age living in North Minneapolis. This project seeks to uncover perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors related to parental and other adult SHS to motivate parents to address the harms of SHS exposure.

Internet-based Smoking Interventions for African Americans
Program in Health Disparities Research postdoctoral associate Jennifer Warren, PhD was recently awarded $28,395 by Prevent Cancer Foundation for a 2-year study titled "Web-based smoking cessation among African American Smokers". The study aims to identify acceptable Internet-based smoking cessation programs for African Americans, development of an initial Web intervention, and conduct usability tests to evaluate the program.

Response to Minnesota's Freedom to Breathe Act
PHDR postdoctoral associate Carla Berg, PhD, has received $145,260 from ClearWay Minnesota for survey and focus group work with 2-year colleges and 4-year universities to characterize young-adult market segments and their response to Minnesota's Freedom to Breath Act. Demographic differences exist between ethnicity and socio-economic status for students of 2-year colleges and 4-year universities. This 24-month study aims to further the understanding of the different rates of smoking between the school types and specifically why the rates are higher among 2-year college students.

Promoting Home Smoking Restrictions
PHDR member Janet Thomas, PhD, has received $132,000 from the American Heart Association for a 2-year study on home smoking restrictions. The primary aim of this study is to develop and test an educational intervention to encourage the adoption of home smoking restrictions in African American homes. The intervention will be delivered through home visits facilitated by a community health worker/researcher counselor team and give biomarker feedback to both the smoker and non-smoker regarding documented exposure to air pollutants, nicotine, cotinine and NNAL in order to increase the adoption of home smoking restrictions and to motivate the smoker to make an attempt to quit smoking.

Smoking and Homelessness
Kola Okuyemi, MD, MPH, Director for the Medical School's Program in Health Disparities Research and Cancer Center member was recently awarded a 4-year $2.8 million R01 grant by the National Institutes of Health (NHLBI) for a study titled, "Improving NRT Adherence and Outcomes in Homeless Smokers". This study fills a critical gap in smoking research by extending smoking cessation research to a poor and underserved population using pharmacotherapy and motivational counseling. Research outcomes will provide a model on overcoming barriers to cancer prevention services among homeless persons. Among the 4 million homeless people in the U.S., at least 70% are cigarette smokers.

American Cancer Society Grant Awarded For Web-based Smoking Cessation Intervention
Program in Health Disparities Research postdoctoral associate Jennifer Warren, PhD received award notification from the American Cancer Society for a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship grant. In addition to receiving mentoring and completing coursework in cancer prevention, she will be conducting a study titled, Web-based Cessation Intervention among African American Light Smokers.

NIH Native Investigator Development Program
Program in Health Disparities Research faculty member Tiffany Beckman, MD, was awarded the Native Investigator Development Program sponsored by the Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) in the American Indian and Alaska Native Programs at the University of Colorado Health Sciences. The grant's purpose is to increase the number of Native American and Alaska Native (AI/AN) Principal Investigators; currently only 14 out of 35,000 Principal Investigators are AI/AN. The two-year grant includes training in Seattle and Denver, development of a pilot study, and assistance with preparation of K or R01 grant during year two.

Ramsey County Center for National Children's Study
Program in Health Disparities Research faculty member Pat Fontaine, MD, MS, received a five-year $1.3 million award as co-investigator of a grant from the National Institutes of Health National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in October 2007 to establish a center for Ramsey County for the National Childresn's Study. The study examines environmental influences on pregnancy health along with infant, child, and youth health and development.