New UM Initiative Aims to Eliminate Md. Health Disparities

Pa. Research Team Recruited To Open Center for Health Equity

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - A major new initiative by the University of Maryland aims to eliminate health disparities in the state and extend the impact of health reform.

The university's School of Public Health has recruited a team of nationally recognized faculty-researchers who will create action programs to improve primary care and expand public health outreach, so as to reduce the high rates of chronic disease in Maryland's medically underserved communities.

Led by Stephen B. Thomas, the team will open a new Maryland Center for Health Equity as a base for extensive community-level research and outreach focused on reducing disparities. Maryland has the fourth largest concentration of medically underserved racial and ethnic minorities in the nation. In addressing these disparities, the center plans to develop models for use by other states.

Thomas, whose innovative techniques brought health professionals to nontraditional locations such as African American barbershops and beauty salons, will bring his entire team from the University of Pittsburgh to assume tenure-track teaching and research positions at Maryland.

This cluster hire represents an unprecedented single investment by the university to address these health issues for the state, and amplifies extensive efforts already underway at the School of Public Health.

"This gives us critical mass to advance our commitment of transforming Maryland's health, and it comes just in time to build on the promise of health reform," says Robert S. Gold, dean of the University of Maryland School of Public Health. "This new center will complement our current efforts. It puts us on a fast-track and will help extend our reach state-wide."

REDUCING HEALTH INEQUITIES

The center's work will stress evidence-based principles designed to overcome community resistance to medical and public health research, including:

In addition to collaboration with other researchers in the School of Public Health, the center will draw on expertise from a wide range of disciplines, such as engineering, urban planning, sociology, public policy and journalism. Also, it will partner with other University System of Maryland institutions.

"We're focused on action, not talk," says Thomas, whose team has developed an arsenal of community engagement and research techniques to bridge the gap between minority communities and academic health science professionals.

"You'd think that communities lacking the most basic health care would welcome outside help," Thomas continues. "However, the burdens of race and history cannot be ignored. The reality is that we have to build trust and overcome cultural barriers first.

"Our challenge and mission is to find new ways to bring the fruits of health care reform to the underserved, poorly served and never served segments of our community," Thomas says. "We're all in this together, and the people in these communities must be fully engaged as equal partners in establishing a new community-based health infrastructure."

Sandra Crouse Quinn, who will join the School as senior associate dean of public health initiatives, stresses families as a key to success. "Culturally, in African American and Latino communities, it makes sense to focus on families," she explains. "This is where the transmission of social norms and lifelong behaviors begins."

Prince George's and Montgomery Counties, Washington, D.C., Baltimore and its suburbs, as well as rural parts of Maryland all have communities that can benefit from the center's focus on achieving health equity for everyone, "and we'd be remiss not to try," Thomas adds.

The center will open in the fall and begin extensive collaborative planning for work in communities across the state within a year.

CLUSTER HIRE

The cluster hiring of a cohesive scientific team comprised of tenure and tenure-track faculty is a first for the University of Maryland, and heightens the potential impact of the center. "It brings a team with complementary specialties and a clear track record of research success, and enables us to make a great leap forward," explains Dean Gold. The team's expertise includes:

The team developed successful national partnerships and collaborations in Pittsburgh, and these will continue at Maryland. They include arrangements with the Mayo Clinic, the University of Wisconsin, University of Colorado, as well as ongoing research with Pittsburgh community-based organizations and research partners at the University of Pittsburgh. The team has also established a highly successful career development pipeline with the Kellogg Health Scholars program headquartered in Washington, DC.

"The University is extremely pleased to have attracted this very talented team," said University of Maryland President C. D. Mote, Jr. "Each member brings extensive experience and professional specialization to the challenge of reducing health disparities. The team will extend and amplify the exceptional programs underway in the School of Public Health."

INITIATIVE UNDERWAY AT PUBLIC HEALTH

The University of Maryland School of Public Health currently has extensive research and community outreach programs already active in Maryland, including the CDC-funded University of Maryland Prevention Research Center, the 10-year-old City of Seat Pleasant - University of Maryland Partnership, the Herschel S. Horowitz Center for Health Literacy, the Cultural Competency in Healthcare initiative, and the new Center for Global Health Initiatives, funded by NFL player and Maryland alum, Madieu Williams.

The University of Maryland School of Public Health aims to make a significant and measurable difference to the health of the state, and advance the state of health. It is the only public Public School of Health in the Mid-Atlantic region.

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