Investigating Obesity and Chronic Disease-Related Risk Factors of Alaska Natives

阿拉斯加州土著健康研究中心（CANHR）于2001年在《土著居民健康准则》的支持下成立，其为减少阿拉斯加州土著居民的疾病和促进健康而进行的高质量研究，以及针对少数民族进行的以社区为基础的参与性研究，已得到全国的认可。AN人员一直参与CANHR研究的各个阶段，包括制定CANHR目前关于肥胖和代谢疾病的研究议程。这一长达十年的社区伙伴关系的发展和巩固已将这一研究议程扩展到旨在预防和治疗肥胖和代谢疾病、青少年自杀和药物滥用的干预研究。CANHR的资助从2001年的一笔NIH拨款增加到2010年的近500万美元。在美国国立卫生研究院建设拨款的支持下，我们正在阿拉斯加州建设首批两个临床研究实验室，同时将我们的净空间增加了5000多平方英尺。阿拉斯加费尔班克斯大学的领导层已经增加了对CANHR的实质性承诺，通过总统教授计划，通过新的教师招聘和全国公认的高级研究人员的咨询，进一步增强了我们的研究专长。我们的出版率持续增长，在过去的四年里超过了100篇。拟议的COBRE第三期过渡中心的目标是巩固这些成就，重点是将CANHR转变为一个自给自足、可持续的、国家认可的研究中心，重点是AN健康和CBPR。为此，我们建议：(1)加强核心资源的基础设施，以支持研究和社区参与；(2)扩大指导和培训机会，培养下一代AN卫生研究人员；(3)制定创新的试点项目计划（特定专业知识的外部合作伙伴关系），以促进与研究密集型机构的科学领导者的合作研究，根据我们的经验，这将对我们的校外资助成功产生积极影响；(4)继续总统教授计划，以扩大智力资本和国家对CANHR的认可；(5)包括一个全面的商业计划，以确保收入维持CANHR核心。

The Center for Alaska Native Health Research (CANHR), established in 2001 with COBRE I support, has become nationally recognized for both the quality of its research to reduce disease and promote health among Alaska Native (AN) people and for Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) with minority populations. AN people have been engaged in all phases of CANHR research, including setting CANHR's current research agenda on obesity and metabolic disease. The evolution and solidification of this decade-long community partnership has expanded this research agenda into intervention research aimed at prevention and treatment of obesity and metabolic disease, youth suicide, and substance abuse. CANHR funding has increased from one NIH grant in 2001, to nearly $5M in 2010. With support from an NIH construction grant, we are building the first two clinical research laboratories in the state of Alaska, while increasing our net space by over 5,000 sq. ft. The University of Alaska Fairbanks leadership has increased its already substantial commitment to CANHR, further augmenting our research expertise with new faculty hires and consultation from nationally recognized senior researchers through the President's Professors program. Our publication rate continues to increase, surpassing 100 publications in the past four years. The goal of the proposed COBRE Phase III Transitional Center is to solidify these achievements with a focus on transitioning CANHR into a self-supporting, sustainable, nationally recognized research center focused on AN health and CBPR. We propose to do this by: (1) strengthening the infrastructure of core resources to support research and community engagement; (2) expanding mentoring and training opportunities to develop the next generation of AN health researchers; (3) developing an innovative Pilot Project program (External Partnerships for Specific Expertise), to foster collaborative research with scientific leaders at research-intensive institutions that, in our experience, will p9sitively impact our extramural funding success; (4) continuing the President's Professors Program to expand intellectual capital and national recognition of CANHR; and (5) including a comprehensive business plan to ensure income to sustain CANHR cores.