“What’s most exciting is that each of our 11 agencies has significant strengths, and we can now leverage these complementary strengths to strategize and address problems together in a way that wasn’t possible before,” Delafontaine (Jada Ross) said.
On May 1, Tulane University received an $82 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to address health disparities across the Deep South as part of its Clinical and Translational Research Center.
CCTS is a partnership of 11 universities, academic medical centers, and research institutes across Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi, led by the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Tulane University. CCTS aims to bring together a variety of institutions, each with their own strengths to complement each other in the fight against health disparities across the Southern United States.
It’s no secret that the Deep South’s health is worse than the rest of the U.S. “The region… has a very high burden of disease,” said Patrice Delafontaine, dean of the Tulane University School of Medicine and co-director of CCTS. “They have higher rates of stroke, chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.”
Mississippi, Alabama and Louisiana have some of the shortest life expectancies in the U.S., and also have the highest rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity and infant mortality. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Hawaii residents live an average of nine years longer than Mississippi residents.
The grant focuses on improving research infrastructure, educating and training staff interested in health disparities research, and funding the Clinical Trials Unit at Tulane School of Medicine.
“The vision is that with this network, the 11 institutions will work together to accelerate the discovery, dissemination and implementation of new medical discoveries to reduce the burden of chronic disease and advance health equity in the Deep South and beyond,” Delafontaine said.
CCTS will further strengthen collaboration between partner agencies: “What’s most exciting is that each of the 11 agencies has significant strengths, and we can leverage these complementary strengths to strategize and address problems together, something that wasn’t possible before.”
One of the most significant CCTS accomplishments so far is the data-sharing agreement between UAB and Tulane. The agreement allows Tulane researchers to access data about populations in UAB’s electronic medical records, subject to regulatory checks. It also makes it possible for clinical trials to be conducted at both UAB and Tulane, making records easily accessible to researchers at both institutions.
The NIH grant will fund CCTS over the next seven years to support translational research, building community connections and improving health outcomes.
