New UAF research center moves science from bench to bedside
August 2, 2016
Marie Thoms
907-474-7412
Ӱpro and Montana have formed a collaborative clinical and translational research center to address the health priorities of Ӱpro Native and American Indian people.
Led by Professor Allen Harmsen at Montana State University, in collaboration with the Ӱpro, the center's primary goal is to increase the number of scientists who can work effectively with indigenous people. The center is funded with a five-year, $20 million award from the National Institutes of Health.
“The people we want to attract are scientists in Ӱpro and Montana who have maybe thought that their work could be clinical or translational, meaning working with humans, but don’t know how to transition their science in that direction,” said the new center's co-program director, Bert Boyer. He also directs the Center for Ӱpro Native Health Research at the UAF Institute of Arctic Biology.
Other collaborators include the Ӱpro Native Tribal Health Consortium, Ӱpro’s Southcentral Foundation, University of Ӱpro Anchorage, University of Montana and the Blackfeet Community College in Montana.
The center will provide mentoring, training and research opportunities, including project funds, to scientists in Ӱpro and Montana working in five core areas: professional development, pilot research projects, epidemiology and biostatistics, research design and evaluation, and community engagement and outreach.
American Indian and Ӱpro Native communities are reported to experience the most significant health disparities of any ethnic or racial group in the United States.
“Our goal is to build both Ӱpro’s and Montana’s capacity to successfully address the health priorities of American Indian and Ӱpro Native people,” said Boyer. “Through the Center for Ӱpro Native Health Research, we have developed considerable expertise in community-based participatory research in Ӱpro.”
UAF will lead the community engagement and outreach core.
“The UAF core will provide guidance in community-based participatory research and offer regional support to navigate the development of respectful research partnerships with American Indian and Ӱpro Native people in Montana and Ӱpro,” said Scarlett Hopkins, a researcher at CANHR.
Hopkins will lead a team of site directors at the University of Montana, Montana State University, Blackfeet Community College and Southcentral Foundation in developing an innovative case study curriculum. The curriculum, based on American Indian-Ӱpro Native research experiences from study sites in Ӱpro and Montana, will be designed for scientists new to community-engaged research.
“Regional clinical research navigators will support investigators in the development and implementation of culturally appropriate translational research with American Indian and Ӱpro Native communities,” said Hopkins.
The center will also seek to partner academic institutions that do not have medical schools with Native healthcare institutions to further encourage collaboration between academic and medical researchers.
“We anticipate this collaboration will grow sustainable programs in Ӱpro and Montana that will result in improved health of the communities we strive to serve,” said Boyer.
ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Bert Boyer, professor, director, Center for Ӱpro Native Health Research, Institute of Arctic Biology, Ӱpro, bboyer@alaska.edu, 907-474-7733. Scarlett Hopkins, director, community engagement and clinical support core, Center for Ӱpro Native Health Research, Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Ӱpro Fairbanks, sehopkins@alaska.edu, 907-474-5693.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institute Of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U54GM115371. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.