SOURCE: kaisernetwork.org
DATE: Oct 30, 2006
EXCERPT: The Meharry Medical College's Center for Women's Health Research, which will focus solely on health disparities among women, opened Thursday in Nashville, Tenn., the Tennessean reports. According to the Tennessean, the center, which cost $4.2 million, is the first in the U.S. to study exclusively diseases that affect minority women at "higher-than-expected rates" and methods to improve their health. Initially, the center will look for molecular, cellular and genetic differences among racial groups that might cause different health outcomes, and research will focus on HIV/AIDS, heart disease and reproductive health, the Tennessean reports. In addition, researchers will examine behavioral components, such as exercise, that affect people's health. According to Valerie Montgomery Rice, dean of Meharry Medical College School of Medicine and executive director of the center, four primary investigators and their teams initially will conduct research, and the number likely will increase to 20 over the next few years. She added that new research areas will be added -- including mental health, breast cancer, the role that society and the environment play in illness and access to health care. "The center will address the question of why" the racial disparities occur, Rice said, adding that until it is known why health disparities occur, it is impossible to change them (Pinto, Tennessean, 10/26). more
RELATED LINK:
Meharry Medical College's Center for Women's Health Research
