Overview

RFA ES02-009

In September 2003, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) established eight Centers for Population Health and Health Disparities, designed to support cutting-edge research to understand and reduce differences in health outcomes, access and care. Four NIH institutes or offices the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Institute on Aging (NIA), and the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research (OBSSR) ? are supporting this interdisciplinary research to examine how the social and physical environment, behavioral factors, and biologic pathways interact to determine health and disease in populations.

These grants, which total $60.5 million over five years, address the recommendations of recent reports from the National Academy of Sciences. The reports called for an approach to health and health disparities that integrates research in the natural, behavioral and social sciences to create a more comprehensive understanding of disease pathways. The reports also stressed the need to examine causation and intervention at the population and environmental levels, rather than solely at the individual level. Based upon these reports and other sources, the participating NIH units issued a Request for Applications (RFA) on April 1, 2002: RFA ES-02-009, Centers for Population Health and Health Disparities.

In announcing the formation of the centers, DHHS Secretary Thompson emphasized ?It is vital that all populations benefit from scientific knowledge and advances...This initiative is an exciting step toward understanding and eliminating health disparities for numerous diseases throughout the United States.

The eight centers form a network of research teams to explore the complexity of health disparities. Investigators are following a community-based research approach that involves community stakeholders in the planning and implementation of research, with studies focusing on obesity, cardiovascular disease, breast cancer, prostate cancer, cervical cancer, mental health, gene-environment interactions, psychosocial stress, and other factors. Populations will include low-income whites, African Americans, Hispanics, and the elderly.

"Today, people in this country of various backgrounds, ages, or socioeconomic levels bear an unequal burden of disease," said NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni. "These centers will perform innovative research, collaborating extensively to address the important and complicated issue of health disparities."

Total initiative amount: $60.5 million

NCI – $6.5M per year over 5 years = $32.5 M
NIEHS – $4.0M per year over 5 years = $20 M
NIA – $1.6M per year over 5 years = $8 M