Enhancing Information Dissemination on Health Disparities Research
Background: The National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD), was established by the Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-525), to conduct and support research, training, dissemination of information, and other programs with respect to minority health conditions and other populations with health disparities. In addition, the NCMHD is responsible for the coordination of health disparities research conducted or supported by the National Institutes of Health. A primary component of the NCMHD coordination activities is the development of the NIH Health Disparities Strategic Plan in collaboration with the other NIH Institutes and Centers, the NIH Director, and in consultation with the NCMHD Advisory Council. The plan outlines the agency’s five-year strategy and priorities for addressing health disparities. As the focal point for health disparities research, the law also requires the NCMHD to maintain communications with all relevant Public Health Service agencies, the Indian Health Service, and various other departments of the Federal Government to ensure the timely transmission of information concerning advances in minority health disparities research and other health disparities research between these various agencies for dissemination to affected communities and health care providers.
Since the creation of the NCMHD in 2001, and the subsequent development of a comprehensive NIH Health Disparities Strategic Plan, there has been an increase in biomedical, behavioral, social science, and clinical research aimed at improving minority health and eliminating health disparities. The National Institutes of Health reports an annual investment in health disparities of approximately $2.6 billion. Data is emerging to give us better insights into the underlying causes of health disparities, and multiple approaches being taken to address health disparities. The 2008 NIH Summit: The Science of Eliminating Health Disparities highlighted the research being undertaken by the various NIH Institutes and Centers to understand and eliminate health disparities. It also underscored the urgent need for a centralized system to collect, integrate, maintain, and analyze the health disparities research data that is emanating from the NIH investment in health disparities. The Institute of Medicine also recognized the need for a health disparities research clearinghouse of health disparity diseases and conditions, with current data on prevalence of diseases and conditions and affected populations, in its report: Examining the Health Disparities Research Plan of the NIH. It is critical to establish a system for assessing progress in achieving the goals and objectives of the NIH Health Disparities Strategic Plan, and identification of health disparities research gaps in order to inform priority setting. The ability to collect and analyze health disparities research data would facilitate timely and effective translation and dissemination of research findings, health information, and the transfer of knowledge to the community, policy makers, scientists, and health care providers.
Project Description: The objective of this funding opportunity is to provide two-years of funding to support the establishment of the infrastructure for a National Health Disparities Research Coordinating Center (NHDRCC) to enhance information dissemination on health disparities research. The NHDRCC would collect, store, integrate, and track data on health disparities research; as well as analyze and interpret data from a variety of research projects to facilitate reporting on progress and gaps in health disparities research, and approaches to understanding health disparities. The system will be pilot tested using existing data from the NCMHD investment in health disparities research starting with its core programs.
The NCMHD will work with the NHDRCC to provide overall coordination, and facilitate dissemination of the data. The NHDRCC will develop a system with an informatics tool to search health disparities research data by several methods, including but not limited to geography, priority populations, principal investigators, diseases/conditions, determinants of health, research process (e.g. translational, trans-disciplinary) and goals/objectives of the NIH Health Disparities Strategic Plan. The NHDRCC will establish an infrastructure that is transferable and can be later expanded to include but not be limited to tracking prevalence, trends across multiple indicators, health outcomes, subpopulations, and facilitate research in health disparities to address the following issues: 1) a test bed for distributed data management that incorporates novel approaches and technologies for data management, data mining, and data sharing across health disparities research, data types, and platforms; and 2) access to information related to health disparities research for researchers; policy makers; health care providers; and the community.
Responsive applications should include a comprehensive data analysis, data management, and information dissemination plan that address how the objectives of the NHDRCC will be accomplished. At the end of the two-year funding cycle, the database and all data generated, tools, and software developed, will be transferred to the NCMHD to further develop the NHDRCC in order to enhance information dissemination activities on health disparities research.
Grantees with a currently funded NCMHD grant or who have had a NCMHD grant within the past 5 years are not eligible to apply.
How to Apply:
Please refer to RFA-OD-09-004 for application and submission information at
http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/rfa-files/RFA-OD-09-004.html
Contact:
Dr. Nathaniel Stinson
Phone: 301-402-1366
E-mail: stinsonn@mail.nih.gov
