Health Disparities News and Research RSS Feed - Health Disparities News and Research

Health disparities (also called healthcare inequality in some countries) refer to gaps in the quality of health and health care across racial, ethnic, sexual orientation and socioeconomic groups.

GWU launches Avance Center for the Advancement of Immigrant/Refugee Health

Today the George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services announced the launch of the Avance Center for the Advancement of Immigrant/Refugee Health, a collaboration between SPHHS, the Maryland Multicultural Youth Centers, the Rivera Group, and other community partners. [More]
Obesity directly tied to several cancers

Obesity directly tied to several cancers

"Obesity is a major risk factor for developing cancer, roughly the equivalent of tobacco use, and both are potentially reversible. Further, obese cancer patients do worse in surgery, with radiation or on chemotherapy - worse by any measure." Karen Basen-Engquist, Ph.D., Director of MD Anderson's new Center for Energy Balance in Cancer Prevention and Survivorship and professor of Behavioral Science. [More]
Vitamin C kills drug-resistant TB bacteria in lab

Vitamin C kills drug-resistant TB bacteria in lab

In a striking, unexpected discovery, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have determined that vitamin C kills drug-resistant tuberculosis bacteria in laboratory culture. [More]

Roundup: Okla. governor pushes funding fix to cover 9,000 on Medicaid; Texas lawmakers OK new mental health funds

Gov. Mary Fallin proposed a last-minute legislative change Friday to the state's Insure Oklahoma program that would direct $50 million in state tobacco taxes to pay for more than 9,000 people who are expected to lose their health insurance under the program. [More]

State rejections of Medicaid expansion likely to widen health disparities

The Los Angeles Times reports that states opting against expanded eligibility -- among them, some of the nation's unhealthiest -- could fall even further behind as the Affordable Care Act is implemented. News outlets also offer reports from Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, California, Florida and Virginia. [More]
UC Davis scientists detect novel molecular target for multiple sclerosis

UC Davis scientists detect novel molecular target for multiple sclerosis

Working with lab mice models of multiple sclerosis, UC Davis scientists have detected a novel molecular target for the design of drugs that could be safer and more effective than current FDA-approved medications against MS. [More]
Robotic transplantation may reduce health disparities for obese patients with chronic kidney failure

Robotic transplantation may reduce health disparities for obese patients with chronic kidney failure

Obese patients who received robotic kidney transplants had fewer wound complications than patients who received traditional "open" transplant surgery, according to surgeons at the University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System. [More]
People diagnosed with cancer are more likely to declare bankruptcy

People diagnosed with cancer are more likely to declare bankruptcy

People diagnosed with cancer are more than two-and-a-half times more likely to declare bankruptcy than those without cancer, according to a new study from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Researchers also found that younger cancer patients had two- to five-fold higher bankruptcy rates compared to older patients, and that overall bankruptcy filings increased as time passed following diagnosis. [More]
Low income African-American adults living closer to fast food restaurants have higher BMI

Low income African-American adults living closer to fast food restaurants have higher BMI

African-American adults living closer to a fast food restaurant had a higher body mass index than those who lived further away from fast food, according to researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and this association was particularly strong among those with a lower income. [More]
College of Nursing wins grant to implement community health and wellness program

College of Nursing wins grant to implement community health and wellness program

The Ohio State University College of Nursing and Making a Difference, Inc. have teamed up to win a $60,000 dollar grant from The Ohio State University Office of Outreach and Engagement to address health disparities by implementing a comprehensive community health and wellness program in a Near East Side neighborhood of Columbus, OH. [More]

GWU to hold forum to discuss public health issues that affect Latino immigrant communities

The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services will hold a forum on May 22 to discuss public health issues that disproportionately affect Latino immigrant communities. [More]
Symposium examines racial and ethnic health disparities on cancer care

Symposium examines racial and ethnic health disparities on cancer care

Third-year residents in the Department of Family and Community Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital have organized a symposium examining racial and ethnic health disparities, with a focus on cancer care. The program will feature a keynote speech from Otis Brawley, MD, Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society. [More]
Microclinic International to promote healthier living in the Cumberland Valley Region

Microclinic International to promote healthier living in the Cumberland Valley Region

Microclinic International was awarded a major CDC grant to promote healthier living and combat chronic disease in the Cumberland Valley Region in Appalachian Kentucky. [More]
WVU ICRH director named 2013 Rural Health Practitioner of the Year

WVU ICRH director named 2013 Rural Health Practitioner of the Year

Larry Rhodes, M.D., interim chair of the West Virginia University Department of Pediatrics and director of the WVU Institute for Community and Rural Health, has been named the 2013 Rural Health Practitioner of the Year by the National Rural Health Association. [More]

SLU SNMA students receive Leadership in Institutional Diversity Award

A group of 40 students are part of Saint Louis University's Student National Medical Association chapter (SNMA), who are striving to reduce health disparities locally. This year, they received the Leadership in Institutional Diversity Award, a recognition given to a university for serving as an outstanding example of leadership and innovation in promoting and maintaining institutional diversity. [More]

Schools play a critical role in early identification of adolescents with mental disorders

A study published in the May 2013 issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry found that mental health resources provided by schools are significantly associated with whether adolescents with mental disorders receive needed mental health services. [More]
Study: Combination of chemotherapy and nerve-protecting agents can prevent anemia

Study: Combination of chemotherapy and nerve-protecting agents can prevent anemia

Cancer chemotherapy can cause peripheral neuropathy-nerve damage often resulting in pain and muscle weakness in the arms and legs. Now, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have discovered that chemo also induces an insidious type of nerve damage inside bone marrow that can cause delays in recovery after bone marrow transplantation. [More]
Researchers awarded grant to reduce higher rates of stroke among underserved populations

Researchers awarded grant to reduce higher rates of stroke among underserved populations

UCLA researchers and their partners across Los Angeles County have been awarded an $11 million grant to fund research on community-based interventions to reduce the higher rates of stroke and death from stroke among disadvantaged Hispanics, African Americans and Asian-Americans. [More]
Hypothalamus controls aging throughout the body, scientists report

Hypothalamus controls aging throughout the body, scientists report

While the search continues for the Fountain of Youth, researchers may have found the body's "fountain of aging": the brain region known as the hypothalamus. [More]

LINCC Initiative to provide charitable contribution to 16 organizations to support individuals with HIV/AIDS

Janssen Therapeutics, Division of Janssen Products, LP, today announced the 16 organizations that will receive a charitable contribution from its Linking In-Need Communities to Care Initiative. [More]