National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities

City of Hope researchers identify biomarkers that may detect risk of advance prostate cancer in Black men

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, August 15, 2023
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LOS ANGELES, Aug. 15, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Scientists at City of Hope, one of the largest cancer research and treatment organizations in the United States and a leading research center for diabetes and other life-threatening illnesses, have identified a cell metabolism process found in men with diabetes and metastatic prostate cancer that could one day lead to improved testing and treatments for Black men with these diseases. The research will be highlighted in the press program for the American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall 2023, a hybrid meeting that will be held virtually and in person in San Francisco from Aug. 13 to 17.

Key Points: 
  • Black men are more than twice as likely than other men to die from prostate cancer.
  • City of Hope leads the nation in having the first research department focused on the intersection between cancer and diabetes.
  • Shuck is an assistant professor in the Arthur Riggs Diabetes & Metabolism Institute and Department of Diabetes & Cancer Metabolism at City of Hope.
  • City of Hope researchers intend to gain a better understanding of prostate cancer disparities in the hopes of developing a diagnostic test.

HPC International Launches Pinpoint™ App to Manage Pain Symptoms Associated with Sickle Cell Disease

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, August 8, 2023
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Developed with teens in mind, people of all ages benefit from the Pinpoint™ app to identify different types of pain associated with sickle cell disease.

Key Points: 
  • Developed with teens in mind, people of all ages benefit from the Pinpoint™ app to identify different types of pain associated with sickle cell disease.
  • Using gaming technology, Pinpoint™ offers an innovative pain assessment tool and a pain diary to log physical and emotional pain symptoms.
  • Clinicians are often unsuccessful at addressing chronic pain in sickle cell disease, underscoring the need for the Pinpoint™ app.
  • “The pain caused by sickle cell disease is incredibly difficult to manage and ‘pinpoint,’ especially for young patients,” said Hilton M Hudson, MD, FACS, CEO of HPC International.

Wavely Diagnostics Announces New Funding to Accelerate Commercial Launch, Scale Delivery of Only Digital Diagnostics Platform for Childhood Ear Infections

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
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Wavely Diagnostics, Inc. , a digital diagnostics company developing smartphone-based apps to bring accurate, data-driven virtual pediatric care into every U.S. household, raised $1.35MM in new funding to advance its first-of-its-kind digital diagnostics platform for enabling virtual ear infection care for children, bringing Wavely’s total investor and grant funding to $6.35MM.

Key Points: 
  • Wavely Diagnostics, Inc. , a digital diagnostics company developing smartphone-based apps to bring accurate, data-driven virtual pediatric care into every U.S. household, raised $1.35MM in new funding to advance its first-of-its-kind digital diagnostics platform for enabling virtual ear infection care for children, bringing Wavely’s total investor and grant funding to $6.35MM.
  • The new funding will enable Wavely to seize upon growing interest from healthcare systems and pediatric care providers and accelerate development ahead of its planned public release in app stores later this year.
  • Robin Hood Ventures is leading the funding round with follow-on investment from WRF Capital, Ambit Health Ventures, the WXR Fund, Wealthing, HealthTech Capital, and Princeton Alumni Angels.
  • “Wavely Diagnostics is at the forefront of leveraging the potential of digital health to revolutionize the field of pediatric diagnostics,” said Donna Cordner, Managing Director at Robin Hood Ventures.

Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture Awarded $2 Million in Funding to Support Social and Behavioral Healthy Living Research

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
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COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 23, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- New research initiatives at the Texas A&M Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture (IHA) have received more than $2 million in funding to support social and behavioral healthy living research.

Key Points: 
  • Research initiatives at Texas A&M Institute for Advancing Health Through Agriculture receive over $2 million in funding.
  • Another project will look at how community cafes – non-profit restaurants that use a pay-what-you-can system – influence healthy diets and food security.
  • Patrick Stover, Ph.D., director of the IHA, said the newly awarded grants reflect the importance of the Institute's forward-looking work.
  • "Doing so requires community-engaged multisector partnerships, as exemplified in this new portfolio of funded projects across the IHA Healthy Living research team."

PROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION-FUNDED GENETIC STUDY OF MEN OF AFRICAN ANCESTRY FINDS NEW RISK FACTORS FOR PROSTATE CANCER

Retrieved on: 
Friday, March 3, 2023
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LOS ANGELES, March 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- One in six Black men in the United States will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime versus one in eight white men. Black men are more likely to be diagnosed at a younger age, with more aggressive disease, and are more than twice as likely to die of prostate cancer. New findings from Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF)-funded investigators shed light on the genetic underpinnings of this racial disparity and point the way toward more effective screening strategies.

Key Points: 
  • Studies have identified close to 270 genetic variants linked to prostate cancer risk, but genetic researchers have yet to explain the disproportionate risk among men of African ancestry.
  • Nor have they been able to predict which Black men face a high risk for aggressive prostate cancer.
  • The researchers found nine previously undiscovered genetic variants that increased the risk for prostate cancer in men of African ancestry, seven of which are found either largely or exclusively in Black men.
  • One new variant in the 8q24 region, long known to influence prostate cancer risk, is found only in men of African ancestry.

Dr. Rohit Varma Shares Eye-Disease Research at the 2nd Mexico-United States Symposium on Vision Health

Retrieved on: 
Friday, January 27, 2023
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Symposium on Vision Health .

Key Points: 
  • Symposium on Vision Health .
  • View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230127005421/en/
    An internationally acclaimed clinician and epidemiologist, Dr. Rohit Varma is the world’s foremost expert on eye disease in Latinos.
  • (Photo: Business Wire)
    The Symposium is a partnership between the Government of Mexico and the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), National Institutes of Health (NIH) , and National Eye Institute (NEI) .
  • Among the presenters are Dr. Michael F. Chiang, Director, NIH/NEI and Dr. Rohit Varma , Founding Director, Southern California Eye Institute .

OU-Led Study Examines Impact of Medicaid Expansion on Health Disparities

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, November 9, 2022
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The passage of the Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010, called for the expansion of Medicaid benefits nationwide.

Key Points: 
  • The passage of the Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010, called for the expansion of Medicaid benefits nationwide.
  • However, the impact of Medicaid expansion on health disparities remained underexamined.
  • Mueller said in addition to insights on how Medicaid expansion may have impacted health disparities, "(the data) could also tell us information about the possible impacts of more broad scale universal health care options in the United States."
  • The five-year project, " The Effect of Medicaid Expansion on Mortality Disparities and Poverty ," is funded by an estimated $1.5 million grant from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health.

New Jeeva eClinical Research Technology Enables Global Diversity Inclusion and Multi-Center Collaboration

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, October 26, 2022
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MANASSAS, Va., Oct. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Diversity and inclusion in clinical trials are critical to achieving accurate and reliable results.(1) Participation in clinical trials is voluntary, and individuals of different ages, genders, races, ethnicities, genetic backgrounds, geographic locations, and environments will respond differently to the same treatments. An effective way to achieve diversity in clinical trials is through decentralization with standardized procedures across multiple sites.(2) To facilitate the efficient execution of multi-center clinical trials globally, Dr. Harsha Rajasimha, Founder and CEO of Jeeva Informatics, and his team have developed the modular Jeeva™ eClinical Cloud.

Key Points: 
  • Dr. Harsha Rajasimha, CEO & Founder of Jeeva Informatics, is leading the way to enable greater collaboration, diversity, inclusion, and access to decentralized clinical trials, particularly for underrepresented minorities.
  • MANASSAS, Va., Oct. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Diversity and inclusion in clinical trials are critical to achieving accurate and reliable results.
  • Researchers in the U.S. and abroad have selected the Jeeva eClinical Platform for their pivotal clinical trials.
  • "Our partnership with Jeeva brings the world's first-of-its-kind clinical research service, combining MetFlux's Investigative PhysiologyTM platform with Jeeva's eClinical trials platform.

Second Annual RARE Health Equity Summit Addresses Gaps in Access, Shares Approaches to Build Inclusiveness in Underserved Communities

Retrieved on: 
Wednesday, October 5, 2022
Medical Devices, General Health, Professional Services, Public Policy, Government, Genetics, DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion), Clinical Trials, FDA, Media, Biotechnology, Health, White House, Federal Government, Communications, Social Services, Social Activism, Pharmaceutical, Oncology, Doctor of Pharmacy, Caregiver, Color, Global Genes, Movement, Master of Philosophy, Disease, Technology, JD, Senior lecturer, MS, Hope, Dentistry, Diagnosis, Gaps, University of Science and Technology, Diversity, University of Aberdeen School of Medicine and Dentistry, Patient, Bias, Health equity, MBA, Love, MPH, Partnership, History, Degenerative disease, Commissioner, Solution, Food and Drug Administration, Industry, Health, DO, Rare disease, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, CEO, FTSE Global Equity Index Series, Summit, Treatment, Genetic testing, Interim, Environment, Coalition, National Center for Civil and Human Rights, Artifact, FDA, School, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, Medical device, Vaccine, MD

Global Genes , a leading rare disease advocacy organization, will hold its second annual RARE Health Equity Summit in partnership with the Rare Disease Diversity Coalition (RDDC).

Key Points: 
  • Global Genes , a leading rare disease advocacy organization, will hold its second annual RARE Health Equity Summit in partnership with the Rare Disease Diversity Coalition (RDDC).
  • The event includes speakers from the FDA, community and patient organizations, academia and industry and will discuss approaches to address racial, ethnic, gender, socioeconomic and other disparities affecting rare disease communities.
  • The takeaways from last years inaugural Health Equity Summit highlighted the work that we must do as a community to break down barriers.
  • Black Womens Health Imperative (BWHI) launched the Rare Disease Diversity Coalition (RDDC) to address the extraordinary challenges faced by rare disease patients of color.

Mobile Tour Launches the Return of the Esperanza Hope for All Campaign

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, July 26, 2022
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WASHINGTON, July 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- UnidosUS, formerly the National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Latino civil rights and advocacy organization, announced today the return of Esperanza Hope for All, an institution-wide initiative to mitigate the health, economic, and education effects of the coronavirus pandemic on Latinos. This year's campaign objectives include vaccinating the unvaccinated, encouraging families with children to get vaccinated, providing accurate information about boosters, tracking and addressing misinformation among the Latino community, and working with UnidosUS Affiliates to provide overall COVID-19 care and information. Now in the third year of the organization's institutional response to the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery, the campaign includes a mobile marketing tour across multiple cities to bring information about the COVID-19 vaccines and boosters directly to Hispanic neighborhoods

Key Points: 
  • UnidosUS, our Affiliates, and the Esperanza Hope for All campaign serve as trusted voices on the COVID-19 vaccines and boosters, which continue to give our community and the nation our best chance at protecting our health.
  • It is critically important that Latino families receive accurate, trusted health care information to guide their decisions.
  • They are still the best protection we have against severe disease and death from COVID-19 and its existing variants.
  • But we know that the pandemic is not over, and the impacts on our community require long-term investments and commitments.