We are pleased to announce that the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities has awarded Northern Arizona University and the Center for Health Equity Research $21.4 million to establish the Southwest Health Equity Research Collaborative (SHERC), which will focus on increasing NAU’s basic biomedical, clinical, and behavioral health research capacity to address health disparities among diverse populations of our region. SHERC will be led by PIs Julie Baldwin, CHER Director; and Diane Stearns, Associate VP for Research… Read more
research
Pediatric surgery center opens at Queen Central Hospital, Blantyre, Malawi
CHER Assistant Research Professor, Dr. Kristan Elwell has been involved in establishing a new and much-needed pediatric surgery wing at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi. It is the first center of its kind in the country. The Mercy James Institute for Pediatric Surgery and Intensive Care will help the hospital double the number of surgeries performed on children each year and provides a four-bed intensive care unit. It will also become a training center of excellence… Read more
New opportunities for community-based work in adolescent drug abuse
The Institute for Translational Research Education (ITRE) in Adolescent Drug Abuse is expanding to NAU, bringing opportunities for graduate students at NAU to learn about community-based research in this field, and to partner with local community agencies for a service learning project. This federally-funded, state-of-the-art research education program teaches the practical skills of translational research and implementation science in the field of adolescent behavioral health. The Institute and its outstanding graduate scholars work with community partners, academic mentors, and national mentors… Read more
Demographic Trends in Vigorous Physical Activity in College Students
CHER Assistant Research Professor, Dr. Emery Eaves, is first author on an upcoming article co-authored with Dr. Tim Behrens and colleagues. The article presents analysis of a large-scale survey of college students that shows relationships between meeting vigorous physical activity recommendations and key demographic, lifestyle, and personal characteristics.
CHER part of team tackling children’s oral health
CHER Director, Julie Baldwin, is part of an interdisciplinary team of researchers awarded a grant from the Arizona Biomedical Research Commission to investigate why Arizona preschoolers suffer from tooth decay at a much higher rate than the national average. Rural northern Arizona, in particular, has a troublingly high rate of tooth decay among preschoolers aged 2 to 5 years. The team will collaborate with SMART Smiles and First Things First to sequence the genomes of bacteria collected from plaque samples… Read more
Vaping: Narratives of Freedom and Social Responsibility
Dr. Emery Eaves will be heading to Minneapolis November 16 for the American Anthropological Association annual meeting to present a poster about her research on vaping. The title of her poster is “Vaping as a Counter-Aesthetic to the Pursuit of Public Health Wellness: Narratives of Freedom and Social Responsibility in Substance Use”.
Sometimes opposing and sometimes drawing from the debate in public health, a community of activists is working to shape or counter legislation related to Electronic Nicotine Delivery Devices… Read more