Addressing disparities in chronic disease with a teen and young adult focus

少数民族青年和成年人健康与风险中心（CHARM）致力于少数民族社区的慢性病预防，重点是儿童晚期，青少年和青年时期。慢性病（如糖尿病、心血管疾病、哮喘、肥胖症）是少数群体发病率和死亡率的主要来源。尽管研究相对不足，但青年和青年期为改善少数群体健康提供了巨大的潜力，因为（1）少数群体中许多慢性病在较年轻时发生，需要早期重点预防，（2）行为风险（例如吸烟、不健康饮食、久坐不动的生活方式）在这一时期可能是可塑的，并且可能持续到成年期，（3）年轻人获得医疗保健的机会有限，风险特别大。CHARM汇集了来自加州大学旧金山弗朗西斯科（UCSF）、SF综合医院（安全网机构）、SF州立大学（SFSU -少数民族服务机构）的研究人员， 以及其他以青年为重点的合作者和社区伙伴。我们的目标是：（1）建立一个跨学科的少数民族健康和慢性病风险研究中心，汇集学术和社区机构，致力于改善旧金山湾区不同人群的少数民族健康，特别关注青年和青年人的研究; 2）产生关于生物、行为、以及少数民族青年和年轻人健康和慢性病风险的社会决定因素，并设计新颖，创新和有针对性的干预措施，以减少旧金山湾区少数民族社区的慢性病风险;（3）与旧金山湾区的社区组织合作，提高少数民族青年和年轻人在健康促进和慢性病预防方面的健康素养，并对旧金山青年和年轻人的慢性病风险和烟草使用知识产生可衡量的影响;（4）建立慢性病健康差异研究的能力，特别是少数民族研究人员的能力，通过利用和加强UCSF的资源，并可衡量地增加在UCSF和SFSU进行研究的少数民族研究人员的数量。

The Center for Health And Risk in Minority youth and adults (CHARM) is dedicated to chronic disease prevention in racial/ethnic minority communities, with a focus on the late childhood, adolescent, and young adult period. Chronic Illnesses (e.g. diabetes, cardiovascular disease, asthma, obesity) are major sources of morbidity and mortality in minority populations. Although relatively understudied, the youth and young adult period offers great potential for improving minority health because (1) many chronic conditions develop at younger ages among minority populations necessitating an earlier focus on prevention, (2) behavioral risk (e.g. smoking, unhealthy diet, sedentary lifestyle) may be malleable during this period and change likely to persist into adulthood, (3) young adults are at particular risk for limited access to healthcare. CHARM brings together investigators from the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), SF General Hospital (a safety net institution), SF State University (SFSU -a minority-serving institution), as well as other collaborators and community partners that focus on youth. Our aims are: (1) To create a transdisciplinary center for the study of minority health and chronic disease risk that brings together academic and community institutions and is dedicated to improving minority health in the diverse populations of the SF Bay Area, with a specific focus on studies in youth and young adulthood; 2) To generate new knowledge on the interplay between biological, behavioral, and social determinants of health and chronic disease risk in minority youth and young adults and to design novel, innovative, and targeted interventions to reduce chronic disease risk in minority communities in the SF Bay Area; (3) To partner with community organizations in the SF Bay Area to improve health literacy related to health promotion and chronic disease prevention in minority youth and young adults and to have a measurable impact on knowledge of chronic disease risk and tobacco use among youth and young adults in SF; (4) To build capacity for health disparities research in chronic disease, particularly among minority investigators, by utilizing and enhancing UCSF's resources and to measurably increase the number of minority investigators conducting research at UCSF and SFSU.