Center  

for  

Health  

Equity  

The  University  of  Maryland  Center  for  Health  Equity  (CHE)  began  its  work  in  earnest  this  fall  with  the  arrival  of  Dr.  Stephen  Thomas,  Professor  of  Health  Services  Administration,  as  center  director.    He  is  joined  by  Dr.  Sandra  Quinn,  Associate  Dean  for  Public  Health  Initiatives  and  Professor  of  Family  Science  as  senior  associate  director  along  with  Dr.  James  Butler,  Dr.  Craig  Fryer,  and  Dr.  Mary  Garza,  all  Assistant  Professors  in  Behavioral  and  Community  Health  and  associate  directors  in  the  new  center.  Together  they  represent  the  largest  cluster  hire  in  the  history  of  the  University  of  Maryland,  College  Park.

The  CHE  is  a  designated  TIER  3:  Campus-­wide  Research  Initiative  Program  (CRI)  charged  with  providing  support  for  development  of  broad,  multidisciplinary  research  initiatives  that  will  position  the  university  to  become  a  national  leader  in  elimination  of  racial  and  ethnic  health  disparities  aimed  toward  achieving  the  nation’s  Healthy  People  2020  goal  of  health  equity.      The  CHE  is  

Dean.  

to  the  Center  for  Health  Equity.    They  are  the  Principal  Investigators  on  Building  Trust  between  Minorities  and  

Dr.  Thomas  (PI)  and  Dr.  Quinn  (co-­PI)  bring  the  Comprehensive  Research  Center  of  Excellence  in  Minority  Health  Disparities  grant  award  ($2.2M),  also  funded  by  the  

community  engagement  and  research  activities  locally  and  across  the  nation.    Drs.  Thomas  and  Quinn  also  bring  their  

commitment  and  expertise  in  training  post-­doctoral  fellows  and  faculty  committed  to  academic  careers  in  minority  health  and  health  disparity  research.

In  addition  to  serving  as  co-­investigators  on  the  two  grant  awards  above,  Drs.  Fryer  and  Garza  are  each  recipients  of  new  Mentored  Research  Career  Development  Awards  to  

Cancer  Institute.    Dr.  Fryer’s  new  5-­year  K01  award,  

African  American  Youth,  examines  critical  social,  cultural,  and  environmental  factors  of  addiction  and  symptoms  of  withdrawal  among  urban  smokers  utilizing  mixed  methods  research.  Dr.  Garza  begins  her  new  three  year  KO1  award  entitled  African  Americans  and  Colorectal  Cancer:    Risks  and  Screening  in  Urban  Populations  with  a  focus  on  understanding  individual  level  factors  and  neighborhood  level  factors  using  multilevel  modeling  techniques.  Dr.  

Smoking  Among  African  American  Public  Housing  Residents  with  a  focus  on  understanding  contextual  factors  (physical  and  cultural)  driving  tobacco  related  health  disparities  in  this  population.

is  described  in  a  forthcoming  article,  Toward  a  Fourth  Generation  of  Health  Disparities  Research  to  Achieve  Health  Equity,  scheduled  for  2011  publication  in  the  

construction,  Dr.  Thomas  hopes  to  host  an  open  house  in  late  January  or  early  February  to  welcome  the  university  community  to  the  CHE  and  for  the  CHE  leadership  team  to  express  their  thanks  and  appreciation  for  the  warm  Terp  welcome  they  have  received  since  arriving  on  campus.

Spring  2011University  of  Maryland,  College  Park  School  of  Public  Health