President Irvin D. Reid recently announced the awardees from a $1.8 million program earmarked by Wayne StateUniversity. The goal of this program is to strengthen the University's performance as a nationally recognized leader in research within a targeted interdisciplinary research area. This year's funds are designated for research aimed at understanding and overcoming the disparity in health outcomes, particularly those related to chronic diseases among medically underserved and ethnic minority populations living in an urban environment.

"Wayne State has great strengths in the area of health disparities, and I felt it was critical to build on the excellent research and training we are carrying out in this field," commented Reid. "This program embraces our urban mission and global presence, and the research of our awardees will support rapid progress in this area of immense scientific opportunity and need," said Reid.

Part of this year's funds will be used to build capacity in the NIH funded WSU Center for Urban and African American Health (CUAAH), led by Dr. John Flack, associate department chair, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine. This program consists of a number of research projects and core facilities, with participation of 34 investigators from across the WSU campus. The Center has invested heavily in coalescing and expanding a shared research infrastructure that is widely accessible to investigators. The three Projects are:

Project 1: Obesity, Nitric Oxide, Oxidative Stress and Salt Sensitivity,
Project 2: Weight Loss in Breast Cancer Survivors, and
Project 3: A Dyadic Intervention for Cardiac Rehabilitation Patients.

These Projects are thematically linked through obesity, diet and other lifestyle factors including physical activity, and obesity-related cardiovascular disease and cancer. The research efforts are focused on understanding how environment, lifestyle, physiology and genetics play a role in disparate chronic conditions, and on identifying preventive strategies and therapeutic approaches that might alleviate the disproportionate burden of disease. African Americans were selected as a primary focus for the Center because of their high burden of obesity-related disease such as breast cancer and cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, heart failure, diabetes mellitus, and coronary heart disease). Also, while Detroit has the third largest population of African Americans, it has the highest percentage (81.6%) of African Americans of any major city in the United States.

In addition to funding CUAAH, five additional WSU proposals will receive funding from the research enhancement program. They are:

"Helping Older Minority Women Transition from Homelessness." This two-year study will work with four homeless shelters, a warming center and a feeding center to study 75 African American women who are 45 years of age and older during their transition from homelessness. The study aims to develop effective new tools and an intervention to stabilize and improve the women's quality of life, help them recover and move beyond the circumstances that resulted in their homelessness. The interdisciplinary team for this project is led by Dr. Olivia Washington, associate professor, College of Nursing and Institute of Gerontology, and Dr. David Moxley, professor, School of Social Work.

"Reducing Health Disparities in Urban Adult Populations through Personalized E-Technology: Impacts and Effectsof eHealthSmart." The goal of this project is to research use and effectiveness of a personalized eHealthSmartâ program that identifies and addresses specific health promoting lifestyle needs of individuals disproportionately affected by smoking, obesity and other chronic diseases. The aim is to reduce health disparities through health promotion in urban adult populations, targeting ethnically and racially diverse elders living in Detroit and Wayne County. The interdisciplinary team for this project is led by Dr. Joseph Tan, chair, Department of Information Systems & Manufacturing, School of Business Administration.

"Looking for Answers in Lymphedema Prevention: Is it what we inherit? Is it what we do? Is it what we treat?" The goal of this project is to reduce the incidence of arm lymphedema in breast cancer survivors in Detroit. This chronic disability persists because of injury to the lymphatic channels that drain fluid in the arms, and is the result of accumulation of protein-rich fluid in tissue after treatment for breast cancer. In Detroit, there is disparity in access to evaluation and treatment of lymphedema, as well as barriers to implementing known protection methods to minimize risk, particularly with African Americans who cannot afford the costs to use protective measures. The interdisciplinary team for this project is led by Dr. Mary Ann Kosir, associate professor, Department of Surgery and Karmanos Cancer Institute, School of Medicine.

"Feasibility Study of Testing Fecal DNA/RNA and Bacterial Markers for Population Studies." The goal of this interdisciplinary project is to gain knowledge that is useful in the prevention of colorectal cancer for high-risk populations, such as African Americans. The study will aid in advancing the understanding of causes of disparities in colorectal cancer risk, especially the alarming and increasing disparities between Caucasians and African Americans. The interdisciplinary team for this project is led by Dr. Ikuko Kato, associate professor, Karmanos Cancer Institute, School of Medicine.

"Prostate Cancer Admixture Mapping in African American Men." Between 1997 and 2001, African-American men had a prostate cancer incidence rate 1.6 times higher than the rate of Caucasian men. During this time period, the mortality rates in African American men were 2.4 times higher than those among non-Hispanic white men. In addition, African American men also present with higher stage disease at diagnosis of prostate cancer than Caucasian men. The remarkable ethnic difference in prostate cancer suggests that risk factors segregate with race. This two-year study will use a novel approach called admixture mapping to identify genes involved in prostate cancer susceptibility in African American men. The interdisciplinary team for this project is led by Dr. Cathryn Bock, assistant professor, Karmanos Cancer Institute, School of Medicine and Dr. Elisabeth Heath, assistant professor, Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine.

Wayne State University is one of the nation's pre-eminent public research universities in an urban setting. In the past 20 years, Wayne State's research has grown nine percent annually, with research expenditures reaching nearly $214 million in 2003. Over 75 percent of research at WSU is focused on the life sciences, and this focus has led our School of Medicine to climb the National Science Foundation rankings to 22.

Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world.