Center for Minority Health

The Center for Minority Health (CMH), part of The University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, was established in 1994 through a grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation. It provides the framework that is necessary to address the health issues of underserved, ethnic and racial minorities, and works to improve the health and wellbeing of those populations by eliminating health disparities as defined in Healthy People 2010. CMH transforms research into creative outreach practices and community interventions that positively impacts the health of their community. Further, the Center for Minority Health works with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of Health Sciences to enhance the cultural competence of academic scholars and students. The CMH strives toward a vision of a fair and equal society that both values and contributes to the health of all people, and it works toward that goal on a local, regional, and national level. Dr. Stephen B. Thomas is the Director of the Center for Minority Health, as well as being the Principal Investigator of EXPORT Health, and the Phillip Hallen Professor of Community Health and Public Justice.

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Local and Regional Projects

The Healthy Black Family Project (HBFP) concentrates on several East End neighborhoods of Pittsburgh. This area, called the Health Empowerment Zone, has a high percentage of Black residents and of residents living below the federal poverty line. HBFP works with individuals and families, providing a variety of activities and services to help prevent diabetes and hypertension. They provide health coaches, lay health advocates, and nutritionists to help families alter their activity and diet to create and maintain a healthy lifestyle. They provide genetic counseling to ascertain family health history and any risks that might be associated with it, as well as giving a health risk assessment to create a personal health analysis. HBFP also provides stress reducing programs such as yoga, tai chi, and meditation, smoking cessation programs, and helps individuals learn practical ways to handle chronic disease. The Healthy Black Family Project provides the framework for all of these programs, and tracks the progress of the families and individuals who are involved.

Health Advocates In Reach (HAIR) works to bring health professionals and health information into underserved communities by utilizing barber shops and beauty salons for health education. Nine barber shops and salons and over 100 health professionals collaborate to bring accurate health information and to provide on-going health and wellness activities in the communities.

The Healthy Class of 2010 is a campaign to promote health among Pittsburgh Public Schools students who entered the sixth grade in 2003. It strives to engage these students in active living while shaping their attitudes and increasing their knowledge regarding nutrition, physical activity, and a tobacco-free lifestyle. This seven year program, culminating in the student’s graduation in 2010, was set to coincide with the deadline for Healthy People 2010.

National Projects

Academy for Health Equity

Efforts to eliminate health disparities have often met with limited results over the past decade. This is primarily due to the fact that too often many activities that are designed to address specific aspects of health disparities have been uncoordinated and happen piecemeal. The Center for Minority Health recognized the need for an organization that can coordinate these individual efforts. In January 2006, together with other concerned researchers, community advocates and health educators, they met during the second Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health National Summit to Eliminate Health Disparities to discuss forming such an organization.

The Colorado Trust, a non-profit foundation with interests in minority health, supported a second meeting on this topic in June 2007. Here, the CMH and other stakeholders further discussed initial strategies to advance the development and formation of the Academy for Health Equity – the organization that can bring together all the diverse stakeholders to exchange ideas, disseminate information, and engage in research and training in a coordinated effort to promote health equity for all populations.

Presently, the HHS Office of Minority Health is providing the technical assistance necessary for the Academy as it develops the infrastructure and means necessary to effectively address health disparities through concepts of health equity. The Academy for Health Equity looks forward to its inaugural meeting in Denver, Colorado on June 26, 27, 2008.

The Underground Railroad Bicycle Route is a national project in which the Center for Minority Health collaborated with the Adventure Cycling Association. This 2,100 mile bicycle route, from Mobile, Alabama to Owen Sound, Ontario, follows one of the historic Underground Railroad trails that escaped slaves would take to freedom. The goals of this project are three-fold; to encourage greater diversity in recreational bicycling, to improve the health of Black Americans through biking, and to encourage interest in African American cultural history.

Research

EXPORT Health, or The Center for Excellence EXPORT Health was established within the Center for Minority Health in 2002, thanks to a six million dollar grant (grant no. 5P60 MD-000-207-02)from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD)through Project EXPORT (Excellence in Partnership through Community Outreach and Research on Disparities in Health and Training). EXPORT Health enables academic scholars to collaborate with public, private and community organizations to focus on minority health disparity and work toward eliminating these disparities. Working through the Center for Minority Health, EXPORT Health helps the University of Pittsburgh strengthen the research and training infrastructure for the study of minority health disparities, and the goal of eliminating those disparities.

References

• ASPH Friday Letter
• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.com
• The New York Times
• MSN Travel
• NPR
• University of Pittsburgh University Times