Population Studies and Disparities Research (Program 4)

Wayne State University, Detroit MI

Investigators

Linked publications & trials

Abstract

ABSTRACT The Population Studies and Disparities Research (PSDR) Program is committed to identifying key genetic and behavioral risk factors underlying disease onset and progression, and developing and testing novel intervention strategies to reduce risk and improve diagnosis, treatment and outcomes. Important studies include cancer risk associated with environmental and lifestyle factors characteristic of the social and economic challenges faced by urban minorities. This highly interactive Program includes 28 members from 8 WSU departments and three institutes and $9,618,129 in grants, of which $8,274,959 is peer reviewed. Program goals are to reduce and eliminate race and ethnicity related disparities and overall disease burden, and they are met within two central themes. The first theme is to investigate the distribution and determinants of cancer risk and cancer outcomes with attention to racial and ethnic disparities. Major scientific investigations under this theme use emerging advances in genetics to address our highly diverse catchment area population that is approximately 24.3% African American, includes the largest Arab American community in the US, and has targeted research in the smaller Ultra-Orthodox Jewish and Hispanic populations. The work is supported by the Detroit area SEER registry, a resource that is well leveraged for extensive population-based studies of the epidemiology of lung, breast, prostate, colon, ovarian, and endometrial cancers in diverse populations. The second theme examines patient, family, physician and community interactions to understand and address cancer risk, treatment and outcomes with attention to racial and ethnic disparities. Investigations of clinical communication processes and effects on health outcomes are studied in racially and ethnically diverse adult and pediatric populations. This research focuses on better understanding social and behavioral factors driving risk behaviors, screening and treatment choices, and the quality of physician-patient-family member communication, symptom management and survivorship. The work is supported by a unique, custom designed video data capture system installed in multiple clinic sites to study the ways bias and poor communication give rise to unequal treatment decisions and health outcomes. Future directions include developing the thematic focus on survivorship disparities using cohort data for epidemiological and behavioral studies with a goal of testing interventions to reduce and eliminate disparities. Video recording methodologies for clinical communication investigations are moving towards enabling more health services-related studies of clinical flow, efficiency and quality. This is being translated to developing and testing interventions to improve clinical care and efficient information flow in the new multi-site KCI-McLaren clinical network. PSDR Program members actively collaborate with members of the MI, MT, and TBM Programs at KCI. Of the 429 manuscripts published from December 2010 to November 2014, 39% and 23% were intra- and inter- programmatic, respectively, and 51% were multi-institutional collaborations.