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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
David Satcher, MD, MPH, Kaiser Family Foundation, 1450 G Street, NW, Suite 250, Washington, DC 20005, 202-347-5270, DSatcher@KFF.org
Healthy People 2010, the nation's health agenda for the next decade, has two overarching goals: to increase the years and quality of healthy life and to eliminate racial and ethnic disparities in health. Public health partnerships are key to creating a balanced community health system and eliminating disparities in health. As a critical component, community, academia, public and private institutions must create and implement a balanced research agenda. With much recent news attention to institutional abuses of the research process and less than careful attention to the protection of human subjects in research, it is easy to see why communities may now be more mistrustful than ever of researchers and the value of their work. Trends toward community-based participatory research in government and foundations are a positive step toward addressing concerns with the research process, especially in light of recent events, and in achieving the goals of Healthy People 2010.
One of the best examples of community-based research programs is CDC's Urban Research Center Program. In 1995, CDC established the Urban Research Centers to generate research that addresses public health priorities in low-income urban communities. In these centers, community members work in full partnership with representatives of universities, government, and other key stakeholders to improve health and quality of life through good science and sound programs. Also, CDC's REACH 2010 is a two-phase, 5-year demonstration project that supports community coalitions in designing, implementing, and evaluating community-driven strategies to eliminate health disparities. In bringing together teams of community groups, academia, and local and state governments, the REACH and URC programs both help give communities a voice in research planning and implementation, which leads to better outcomes for all participants.
At the new National Center for Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine, where I began serving as Director in September, our mission is to promote access to quality primary care for all Americans through programs of research, teaching/training and exemplary care and to work with communities to design programs to improve their health. We also recognize the importance of broad-based partnerships in conducting our research and plan to work locally, regionally, and nationally to give communities a voice in how to improve the health of our citizens.
Learning Objectives:
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.