University of Maryland launches new efforts to combat health disparities
Improving minority health and advancing research on frustrating health gaps between whites and minorities are the focus of two new initiatives at the University of Maryland.
The School of Public Health has recruited Stephen B. Thomas from the University of Pittsburgh to lead the new Maryland Center for Health Equity. Thomas and a team of new recruits will focus on community-level research and outreach to minority populations in Maryland. Thomas, who launched a program that brought prostate cancer screenings to barbershops -- you read that correctly -- plans to start similar projects here.
Key to the effort will be breaking down barriers of distrust.
"You'd think that communities lacking the most basic health care would welcome outside help," said Thomas in a statement. "However, the burdens of race and history cannot be ignored. The reality is that we have to build trust and overcome cultural barriers first."
Meanwhile, a project at the School of Medicine will offer free community seminars aimed at improving health in Baltimore neighborhoods and tackling minorities' historic distrust about participating in clinical trails.
The Mini-Med School, free classes on specific health topics presented by faculty researchers, is the first effort of the new Bioethics Research Center, whose goal is to get more minorities, particularly African Americans and other underserved groups, into clinical trials. The legacy of the Tuskegee experiment and other research that exploited blacks without providing medical benefits remain a barrier to getting African Americans into clinical trials. Diversity in clinical trials is key to getting a more complete picture of medical research, experts say.
Mini-Med School sessions started last week. There's one tonight on irritable bowel syndrome/Celiac disease from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Medical School Teaching Facility Auditorium, 685 W. Baltimore Street in Baltimore. Two more sessions are planned the following Wednesdays -- one on diabetes research and another called Clinical Trials 101. Check out the website for a full list and details.
