The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health recently awarded Daniel Chu, M.D., a Mentored Patient-Oriented Research Career Development Award for his research project, “Enhancing Health Literacy in Surgery to Eliminate Surgical Disparities for African-Americans with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.”

Dr. Daniel Chu

This new K23 award from the NIH transitions Chu from his current K12 award. As a result of the K23, he will receive $434,137 over three years to support his continued research and career development in surgical disparities and health literacy. The grant will help cover the costs of additional training, site visits and research necessities associated with his project.

Chu’s mentor team includes Mona Fouad, M.D., MPH, who serves as his primary mentor and the director of the UAB Minority Health & Health Disparities Research Center; UAB School of Medicine Dean Selwyn Vickers, M.D.; Isabel Scarinci, Ph.D., MPH, from the UAB Nutrition Obesity Research Center; Larry Hearld, Ph.D., from the Department of Health Services Administration in the UAB School of Health Professions; and Terry Davis, Ph.D., from the Louisiana State University Health Science Center in Shreveport.