Research and the underserved

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jissho

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Is anyone involved in research (clinical, basic, or translational) that has significant implications for the underserved? I am familiar several main areas of research which include neglected tropical diseases, sickle cell, cancer disparities and a few others. I am interested in learning about additional research areas but they are hard to come across.
 
Is anyone involved in research (clinical, basic, or translational) that has significant implications for the underserved? I am familiar several main areas of research which include neglected tropical diseases, sickle cell, cancer disparities and a few others. I am interested in learning about additional research areas but they are hard to come across.

Health Services and Health Policy research are other two big areas for this.
 
If you are a not a senior yet, you should check out the National Institutes of Health (NIH) The Summer Internship Program (SIP) https://www.training.nih.gov/programs/sip

Many branches of the NIH have summer minority programs that give the opportunity for health disparities related research eg. in NIDDK you could work in type 2 diabetes prevalence in a Native American tribe. http://www2.niddk.nih.gov/Funding/F...rch_Coordination/undergrad-rsch-train-prg.htm
The NIH has a year-long postbac program called the NIH Academy for health disparities research, where they pair you with a PI in related research and you do health disparities seminars. App cycle is October to January(2011 is closed). I just applied to it :xf: https://www.training.nih.gov/programs/nih_academy If you are a senior, you are now ineligible for 2012 cycle unless you plan to graduate in August or later.


The IRTA postbac program (which is year-round application cycle) has PIs working in areas you probably be interested in. Search the SDN threads more info on IRTA https://www.training.nih.gov/programs/postbac_irta

You can also try to sift through this list http://people.rit.edu/gtfsbi/Symp/premed.htm

NIH also has a loan repayment program in health disparities research for anyone who has gotten a doctoral degree. Good way to pay back med school debt. http://www.lrp.nih.gov/about_the_programs/health_disparities.aspx


http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/funding/training/redbook/undbrtum.htm <--postbac open, summer has closed.

Each branch of the NIH has its own health disparities focus.
The CDC also has its own stuff on domestic health disparities and global health disparities and programs focusing on them.

Many public health schools have their own research and outreach programs for the underserved. Eg UNC's page http://www.sph.unc.edu/school/health_disparities/
 
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Much of epidemiology focuses on underserved populations and health care disparities. Diabetes, hypertension, and nutrition are other areas, as well as economic research (ability to afford medical care/medications, ability to buy healthy food at local grocery stores...). Many schools of public health have PIs working on these problems. I'd suggest looking in your school/other schools in your area to see who is doing this sort of research (most have faculty research interests on faculty profiles). Most researchers are happy to take on students eager to help 🙂
 
I think there is a lot of work that needs to be done here. As it is, research is still lacking in terms of being able to provide for the underserved population.
 
For those interested in researching at the NIH:
Last year I was an Intramural Research Training Award Fellow (IRTA) at the National Institute of Health. I specifically researched in the neuroscience laboratories fo the National Insititute for Dental Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). My project focused on the taste receptor system. The majority of the fellows were were pre-med. However, there was a Ph and pre-dent hopeful. Feel free to PM for assistance with NIH 🙂
 
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