The UCLA Department of Family Medicine, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, has launched the Network for Multicultural Research on Health and Healthcare, a group that will study health care disparities affecting minorities with chronic diseases.
The network will also mentor and develop a new generation of researchers with an expertise in health care disparities.
The new group — to be directed by Dr. Michael Rodríguez, associate professor of family medicine, and William Vega, professor of family medicine, both of the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA — will draw on the talents of distinguished faculty from several national universities.
"Research has shown us that disparities in health care do exist for certain racial and ethnic groups in the United States," Rodríguez said. "As the population of the United States becomes more and more diverse, it is increasingly important for us to understand the impact of these disparities and devise methods to reduce and eliminate them."
The network's primary aims are to: