Elizabeth City State University Minority International Research Training Program

描述（由申请人提供）：美国最明显的不平等情况是在医疗保健结果方面，弱势少数群体在几乎所有类别的慢性病中都有不成比例的高发病率和死亡率。造成健康差距的一个主要因素是少数民族在生物医学和公共卫生研究中的代表性严重不足。增加积极参与健康差异研究的少数族裔科学家的人数可能有助于减少甚至消除健康差异。我们建议伊丽莎白市立大学（ECSU）少数民族健康和健康差异少数民族国际研究培训（E-MHIRT）计划，为少数民族学生提供机会，他们大多数来自北卡罗来纳州相当贫困的地区，在非洲南部杰出的非洲科学家的指导下获得宝贵的国际生物医学/公共卫生研究经验。这些学生中有相当一部分从未出过州。入选的生物、化学、心理学、社会学和社会工作专业的优等生将在暑期接受为期10周的研究训练。此外，他们将被介绍到那里的人的语言和文化规范，从而拓宽他们的视野。我们与博茨瓦纳大学从事药物发现和糖尿病研究的科学家建立了研究合作关系。E-MHIRT计划将在美国和世界其他地区消除健康差距的两个具体领域提供国际研究培训机会。第一部分是药物发现，其目标是通过针对这些疾病常见的一种关键酶（蛋白质），引进源自非洲丰富的传统医疗实践的新治疗方式，治疗糖尿病、阿尔茨海默病、前列腺癌和艾滋病毒/艾滋病等健康差异疾病，所有这些疾病都对少数群体造成了不成比例的影响。第二部分是对博茨瓦纳高血糖危险因素的调查，将其与我们来自美国、西印度群岛和津巴布韦的数据进行比较，以确定被世界卫生组织描述为全球流行病的糖尿病对美国少数民族的影响不成比例的原因。E-MHIRT的学生将有机会介绍和发表他们的研究结果，作为培养他们成为富有成效的生物医学和公共卫生科学家的一部分。所有E-MHIRT学者预计将从ECSU毕业，并从事直接解决美国少数民族健康和健康差异的职业，从而增加具有专业知识和证书的少数民族的数量，为改善美国弱势少数民族的医疗保健质量做出重要贡献和决定。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The most evident case of disparities in the US is in health care outcomes where disadvantaged minorities have disproportionately high morbidity and mortality in almost all categories of chronic diseases. A major contributing factor to health disparities is the gross under-representation of minorities in biomedical and public health research. Increasing the number of minority scientists actively involved in health disparities research may contribute to reducing, and indeed, eliminating health disparities. We propose the Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) Minority Health and Health Disparities Minority International Research Training (E-MHIRT) Program to provide opportunities for minority students, most of whom come from the rather impoverished part of North Carolina, to gain valuable international biomedical/public health research experience under the tutelage of prominent African scientists in southern Africa. A significant number of these students have never traveled outside of the state. Selected honor students majoring in biology, chemistry, psychology, sociology and social work will spend 10 summer weeks receiving research training. In addition, they will be introduced to the languages and cultural norms of the people there, thus broadening their horizons. We have established research collaborations with scientists involved in drug discovery and diabetes research at the University of Botswana. The E-MHIRT Program will provide international research training opportunities in two specific areas of interest in combating health disparities in the USA and other parts of the world. Part I is Drug Discovery with a goal of introducing new treatment modalities derived from Africa's rich traditional medical practice for such health disparities diseases as diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, prostate cancer and HIV/AIDS all of which disproportionately affect minorities, through targeting a critical enzyme (protein) common to these diseases. Part II is a Survey of Risk Factors for High Blood Glucose in Botswana for comparison with our data from the USA, West Indies and Zimbabwe in an effort to identify causes for why diabetes, described by the World Health Organization as a global epidemic, disproportionately affects US minorities. The E-MHIRT students will be given opportunities to present and publish their findings as part of preparing them to be productive biomedical and public health scientists. All E-MHIRT Scholars are expected to graduate from ECSU and pursue careers that directly address minority health and health disparities in the USA, thereby increasing the' number of minorities with expertise and credentials to make critical contributions and decisions on improving the quality of health care delivery to the disadvantaged minorities in the USA.