UAB Establishes Research Initiative For Aging Minorities

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB, in partnership with three other Southern universities, has received a federal grant to create the Deep South Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR). The National Institute on Aging, one of the National Institutes of Health, and the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, have awarded $2.7 million over five years to UAB, the University of Alabama, Tuskegee University and Morehouse School of Medicine to examine health disparities in older minority adults.

October 8, 2007

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB, in partnership with three other Southern universities, has received a federal grant to create the Deep South Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR). The National Institute on Aging, one of the National Institutes of Health, and the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities, have awarded $2.7 million over five years to UAB, the University of Alabama, Tuskegee University and Morehouse School of Medicine to examine health disparities in older minority adults.

The RCMAR will focus on health problems that are particularly prevalent among older African Americans, and will give special attention to issues related to rural elders, intervention research addressing exercise, diet, or preventive health strategies and studies addressing socio-economic, discrimination, trust, and bioethical issues affecting both physical and mental health.

“The Deep South RCMAR will build upon the unique strengths of the four partnering institutions,” said Richard M. Allman, M.D., director of the UAB Center for Aging and the lead investigator on the grant. “We hope the RCMAR will ultimately become not only a regional, but also a national resource for expertise related to the mechanisms of health disparities between older African Americans and whites.”

Besides conducting research aimed at reducing health disparities in older minorities, Allman says the center will increase the number of investigators working on aging issues, particularly as they affect minorities. The center will enhance diversity among the professional workforce conducting aging research and recruit African American older adults for research projects.

“Among its goals, the RCMAR will improve the research methods and tools necessary to conduct research on diverse populations,” said Allman.

“We believe we can advance scientific knowledge leading to a decrease in health disparities through the improvement of minority health, particularly for older African Americans,” he said.

Other UAB faculty involved in the Deep South RCMAR include Mona Fouad, M.D., Karlene Ball, Ph.D., Angela Curtis, Ph.D., Kathryn Burgio, Ph.D., Michelle Martin, Ph.D., David Roth, Ph.D., Sharina Person, Ph.D., and Isabel Scarinci, Ph.D. Martha Crowther, Ph.D., Harry Strothers, M.D., and Timothy Turner, Ph.D. will provide leadership from the University of Alabama, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Tuskegee University, respectively.

In addition to the Deep South RCMAR, NIH will be providing funding to support five other RCMARs, at the University of California-Los Angeles, University of California-San Francisco, University of Colorado, University of Michigan/Wayne State University, and the University of Pennsylvania.