Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions

This is a large-scale collaborative study consisting of determinants of disparities in chronic conditions. Progress in understanding the nature of health disparities requires data that are race-comparative while overcoming confounding between race, socioeconomic status (SES), and segregation. The EHDIC study is a multi-cohort study that addresses these confounders by examining the nature of health disparities within racially integrated communities without racial disparities in SES.

Obesity is an epidemic in the United States, particularly among minority populations. This epidemic contributes to the development of chronic conditions that occur later in life such as Type 2 diabetes and hypertension. The center conducted a cross-sectional survey among students graduating from a Historically Black College or University (HBCU) in the Mid-Atlantic Region. Participants were 392 predominately African- American seniors graduating in the spring of 2003. Data was collected using a self-administered paper and pencil questionnaire which focuses on weight, weight management activities, weight history, and health status indicators.

This is a study to examine the validity of the psychometric properties of a new measure of trust or mistrust of medical care systems. Trust is the foundation of the interrelationships that make civil society possible and the importance of trust within healthcare is no less critical. Patients are inherently vulnerable within medical encounters and must be trustful of the multiple institutional entities and individuals involved in their care. Patients must trust that individual healthcare providers are competent and will have their best interests in mind while making treatment decisions. They must trust that the pharmaceutical companies have developed effective drugs and that the regulatory agencies have adequately monitored them. They must trust that the healthcare organization and its staff will manage their medical information with discretion and confidentiality.

Parental knowledge of child health and development issues can have important effects on child health. Greater awareness of the content areas in which parents require more guidance can help clinicians devise parent-centered strategies to reduce identified knowledge deficits and may both increase the quality of care and reduce disparities in child health. The primary goal of this pilot project is to develop a set of parental health knowledge assessment questions relevant to physical activity in children 5 years or younger and to conduct preliminary reliability and validity studies of these questions.

The goal of the Community Health Scholars Program (CHSP) is to increase the number of faculty at health professional schools, with an emphasis on schools of public health, who possess the capacity to carry out community-based participatory research and teaching and who understand determinants of community health and how to build the capacity of communities, health-related agencies and academic centers to function as equal partners in community-based research, service and education.

The goal of the UHI Postdoctoral Research Fellowship program is to promote future leaders in the field of urban health research. The fellows, each working in tandem with a Hopkins faculty member, carry out scholarly research and publication on such issues as crime, unemployment, poverty, substance abuse, diabetes, hypertension and other chronic diseases.

In addition to offering Doctoral and master's degrees, the Bloomberg School of Public Health also offers certificates of concentration in subspecialties in public health. Thus, a student can obtain a Doctoral or master's degree from any one of the ten departments that comprise the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and also earn an optional certificate in a specialized topic area. The school currently offers certificates in 21 topic areas. The program is open to students enrolled in any graduate degree program at Johns Hopkins University.