Contact: Ira R. Allen or Barbara Krimgold
202.387.2829
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New Program to Fund Minority Scholars in Health Disparities

WASHINGTON -- The Center for the Advancement of Health has received a $1.5 million, three-year grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation to train a new generation of minority scientists in researching causes of health disparities and in developing solutions.

The pilot program will award postdoctoral fellowships to minority scholars at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research, the Harvard Center for Society and Health and the Morgan State University Center for Urban Health Assessment, Evaluation and Policy.

The Kellogg grant was announced at the start of the American Public Health Association's 128th Annual Public Health Exposition in Boston. The theme of the exposition is "Eliminating Health Disparities."

"Health is a precious commodity, an important individual resource and a valuable public good," said Jessie Gruman, PhD, executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Health. "But in dealing with whole populations, individual efforts are dwarfed by constant exposure to such powerful problems as poverty, inequality, substandard housing, blighted and unsafe neighborhoods and inadequate education."

David Williams, PhD, professor of sociology and program site director at the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, said, "There is a dramatic need for minority scientists and policy makers not only to be represented but to take leadership roles in promoting good health and in developing health and social policy solutions for the 21st century for our increasingly diverse U.S. population."

The Kellogg scholars, from a variety of disciplines such as economics, sociology, political science and epidemiology, will be asked to examine the causes of health disparities by race/ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic status and consider policy solutions. When fully in effect after the pilot phase, the Kellogg Foundation Minority Scholars in Health Disparities will study at a number of U.S. sites and collaborate with similar programs in other countries.

With the assistance of the Center for the Advancement of Health and an advisory committee, each participating site will select two scholars for a two-year program of research, training and mentoring by site faculty starting in 2001. The site directors and scholars will also participate in program orientation, workshops, symposia and electronic communications coordinated by the Center.

Scholars are eligible for stipends of up to $50,000 a year for two years, plus fringe benefits and research/travel expenses to attend program meetings.

For further information and application guidelines, visit the Center for the Advancement of Health Web site at www.cfah.org or contact Barbara Krimgold, director of the scholars program, at Scholars@cfah.org. Deadline for receipt of applications is February 1, 2001.

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The Center for the Advancement of Health is an independent nonprofit organization funded by foundations and public agencies to promote greater recognition of how psychological, social, behavioral, economic and environmental factors influence health and illness.

The Center advocates the highest quality research and communicates it to the medical community and the public. The fundamental aim of the Center is to translate into policy and practice the growing body of evidence that can lead to the improvement and maintenance of the health of individuals and the public.