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Share News, Announcements or Resources with your colleagues in the next newsletter, submit via email to Mayra Diaz | |
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 Funding Opportunities
USC Stevens Ideas Empowered mentoring and funding program has released the 2012 call for proposals. The Ideas Empowered Program seeks to fund and aid the development of promising research at USC that has the potential to make an impact on the market or society either as a start-up company or as new product or service. The Ideas Empowered Program bridges the gap between basic research and the marketplace by supporting both the idea and the innovator through mentoring and coaching, connections to resources, and proof-of-concept funding of typically $50K-$150K for validation of technical feasibility through proof-of-concept experiments and prototype development. For more information visit the USC Stevens website. Deadline June 27, 2012
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Indian Health Service
(IHS) have just released program announcement PAR-12-182 for grant applications for new or continued Native American Research Centers for Health (NARCH). The NARCH program supports opportunities for conducting research and research training to meet the needs of American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities. Applications are due July 10, 2012. The purpose of the Native American Research Centers for Health (NARCH) initiative is to reduce health disparities, enhance partnerships and reduce distrust of research by American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities while developing a cadre of AI/AN scientists and health research professionals.
The Sociological Initiatives Foundation is dediated to the belief that research and action are inseparable. They invite concept proposals for projects that link an explicit research design to a concrete social action strategy. A limited number of concept applications will be invited to submit full proposals in the fall 2012. Complete guidelines, information on past funded projects, and the on-line concept application are available on their website. Deadline for applications is August 15, 2012.
Healthy Eating Research (HER): Building Evidence to Prevent Childhood Obesity is a national program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF). The program supports research on environmental and policy strategies with strong potential to promote healthy eating among children to prevent childhood obesity, especially among lower-income and racial and ethnic populations at highest risk for obesity. Findings are expected to advance RWJF's efforts to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015. This call for proposals is for two types of awards aimed at providing key decision- and policy-makers with evidence to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015. The award types are: Round 7 grants and RWJF New Connections grants awarded through the Healthy Eating Research program. Deadlines for receipt of invited full proposals are May 31, 2012 , July 31, 2012 and October 4, 2012. For more information, visit The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. |
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Immigrant Health Community Forum Highlight
Last month the SC CTSI partnered with the USC Immigrant Health Initiative to convene community leaders representing 10 different immigrant ethnic/racial groups for a half day Immigrant Health Community Forum in Los Angeles. The Immigrant Health Initiative (iHi) is spearheaded by a group of faculty members from eight USC schools to find new solutions to the persistent health disparities among immigrant populations and improve their health outcomes in the U.S. The iHi is funded by the USC Collaboration Fund to foster collaborations across disciplines and create new research and educational opportunities.
The primary goals of the forum were to understand the challenges and best practices in working with immigrants in healthcare settings, gather and collect information about local immigrant health experiences, and identify research priorities based on community needs.
The forum attendees included 23 individuals representing community service, clinical and advocacy organizations serving the African, Latino, Pilipino, Chinese, Japanese, Samoan, Indian, Korean, Armenian and Vietnamese immigrant populations, as well as USC faculty, researchers and students. The participants engaged in discussions and activities to identify the challenges faced by their community as well as methods or approaches that are working. Shortly into the discussions, it became apparent that each ethic immigrant group faces unique circumstances and needs but they also share many of the same struggles.
When asked to identify the MOST pressing health challenges the group selected, 1) language barriers within and outside immigrant communities (lack of culturally-competent care) and 2) access to care (insurance, transportation, cost, complicated system). Understanding that many challenges faced by the community may be difficult to explore through research, participants were also asked to select the challenges that were most feasible to address through a research study. Participants selected, 1) lack of culturally-appropriate evidence-based practices and 2) limited data on specific ethnic groups.
The consensus among the participants was that the forum provided a unique opportunity to discuss common challenges across ethnic immigrant groups. Participants also expressed interest in meeting regularly with this group with the intent of moving ideas forward and sharing experiences. The SC CTSI and iHi will continue to be in contact with the participants of the forum and assist in the coordination of ongoing meetings or in the formation of a coalition. Our next step is to generate a white paper and summary report based on the information gathered. The white paper and summary will be distributed to advocacy groups, community organizations and academic researchers who are interested in moving these ideas forward. We anticipate that these documents will be made available by the end of this summer. The SC CTSI, Community Engagement is available as a resource for anyone interested in learning more about this event or for those interested in connecting with the participants of this forum. |
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Announcements
Conference
The Building Bridges to Optimum Health Conference Series sponsored by the Center for Translational Science Institute will be held on Friday, June 22, 2012 at Magnolia Place Family Center. CEU's will be provided.
Summit
Join Latinas Contra Cancer for the 2012 National Latino Cancer Summit in San Francisco on July 23-25, 2012. Cancer researchers, health care providers, community based agencies and community health educators from across the country will turn the spotlight on the environment, from science to social justice. Register for the Summit, submit an abstract or apply for a scholarship.
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Recommended Reading
Perspectives on Latino Lay Health Promoter Programs: Maryland 2009
by: Olivia D. Carter-Pokras, Graciela Jaschek, Iveris L. Martinez, et. al
"The 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act directs the federal government to provide funding to promote positive health
behaviors and outcomes in medically underserved areas through the use of community health workers. However, as a result of the
diversity among existing programs with respect to recruitment, retention, training, incentives and compensation, evaluation, and monitoring, it is challenging to identify best practices. This Article
describes the findings of a qualitative study that sought to identify best practices for Latino health promoter programs."
Efficacy of a Health Educator-Delivered HIV Prevention Intervention for Latina Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial
by: Gina M. Wingwood, Ralph J. DiClemente, Kira Villamizar, et. al
" Although Latina women are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS, they remain an understudied and underserved population.
Recent meta-analyses reveal that few HIV sexual risk reduction interventions have demonstrated efficacy in decreasing HIV-associated behaviors among adult Latina women and available interventions do not address the cultural diversity of Latina women." |
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