Increasing Minority Human Capital in Public Health Practice and Research to Reduce Health Disparities

Objective: To present a human capital development approach to reduce health disparities in South Carolina, by increasing the number and quality of trained minority professionals in public health practice and research. Methods: The conceptual basis and elements of Project EXPORT in South Carolina are described. It is a 5-year (2005-2010) action-research project to systematically increase the number of African American public health professionals and researchers, trained in skills and competencies to address health disparities elimination through public health service performance and research. This project has designed a human capital approach based on community-wide empowerment, by leveraging historically black institutions and the African American community to lead the disparities elimination process. Results: The project's key activities are: a) To link South Carolina's Historically Black Colleges and Universities with its flagship research university, the University of South Carolina to enhance the talent pool in the state to undertake basic and applied research in health disparities, and 2) To increase the number and quality of public health researchers who are African American, trained in conducting and initiating health disparities research. These activities are congruent with the NCMHD's key focus areas of a) Advancing the science base of disparities reduction, b) Increasing trained minority researchers, and, c) Engaging the community at all stages of research. Conclusion: Building upon past collaborations between a historically black college and the University of South Carolina, this project holds promise for a public health capacity-building approach to reduce health disparities in South Carolina.