Media contact: Adam Pope
The UAB Obesity Health Disparities Research Center, a Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Center initiative funded through the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities’ Centers of Excellence program announces its most recent pilot project recipient, Carrie Howell, Ph.D., an instructor in the UAB Division of Preventive Medicine.
“The OHDRC Pilot Program facilitates emerging research ideas, explores new methodologies and approaches and facilitates transdisciplinary research as it relates to obesity-related health disparities,” said Mona Fouad, M.D., MPH, principal investigator for the Center. “This program advances the field of obesity health disparities and supports the OHDRC’s overall mission of reducing disparities in obesity.”
Howell’s project will investigate the impact of social determinants of health on insulin resistance and poor COVID-19 outcomes.
In addition, three scholars have joined the 2020-2021 cohort of the OHDRC Health Disparities Research Education Program. Congratulations to these early-stage investigators representing UAB, University of Mississippi Medical Center and Louisiana State University.
Jessica Grayson, M.D.
Mentored by Smita Bhatia, M.D., MPH
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Grayson is interested in preventing spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid leaks in African American women with obesity.
Emily Grenn, M.D.
Mentored by Matthew Kutcher, M.D., MS
University of Mississippi Medical Center
Grenn will study the association of chronic stress and development of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and coagulation disorders following trauma, with a specific focus on the role of obesity.
Candice Myers, Ph.D., MS, MA
Mentored by Peter T. Katzmarzyk, Ph.D.
Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana State University
Myers will address health disparities associated with food insecurity and greater body weight/adiposity in women through a weight loss intervention.