NEWS

CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health will host the ninth annual Summer Public Health Research Videoconference on Minority Health, a weeklong enterprise reaching researchers, students and others around the globe interested in examining health research topics specific to minority populations. The live interactive videoconference runs each day, beginning Monday (June 9) through June 13 from 1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. EDT.

Research shows that disparities in health between different racial or ethnic groups continue to characterize United States and North Carolina populations. Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, Hawaiian Natives, Alaskan Natives, Pacific Islanders and some groups of Asian Americans tend to experience higher rates of illness and death than the general population.

"Long-standing health disparities are a public health and social problem," said Dr. Victor Schoenbach, associate professor of epidemiology in the UNC School of Public Health and director of the school’s Minority Health Project. "They also make us more vulnerable as a nation to threats of all kinds."

The videoconference will examine issues related to collecting and analyzing data for racial and ethnic populations, understanding the relationships among race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status, using ethnographic research to improve data quality and building research partnerships between academia and communities. Participants will learn about research opportunities and challenges for research to eliminate health disparities.

"As our society becomes increasingly diverse, and as the economic downturn is affecting all segments of the population, the problem of health disparities is becoming more pronounced and more complex," said Dr. Bill Roper, dean of the UNC School of Public Health. "We need researchers, practitioners, and policy-makers who understand and are committed to addressing these issues, which affect both individuals and entire communities."

Each day’s discussion will have a different focus: "Research toward the elimination of health disparities;" "Conceptualization and measurement of race and ethnicity;" "Bringing data to bear on understanding health disparities;" "Health disparities research with Latinos and Native Americans;" and "Health disparities research at historically black colleges and universities with public health programs."

The keynote address will be given at 3 p.m. Monday (June 9) by Dr. Hortensia Amaro, Distinguished Professor of Health Sciences at the Bouve College of Health Sciences at Northeastern University in Boston. A specialist in improving connections between public health research and public health practice, Amaro will discuss "Innovations in HIV prevention with Latina and African American women at high risk." Her talk and the opening presentation by Dr. Yvonne Maddox of the National Institutes of Health’s child health and human development institute will be broadcast on the Internet as well as by satellite.

Each year the videoconference attracts researchers, public health professionals, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows in universities, research organizations, government and community-based organizations. Each session includes time for participants to ask questions and join discussions via toll-free telephone, fax and e-mail.

"The interactive format enables people all around the country to hear national experts, even though many agencies cannot afford to send their staff to national meetings," Schoenbach said.

The videoconference will originate from the school’s Mayes Telecommunications Center, 231 Rosenau Hall, and is slated to be picked up live at more than 60 participating satellite sites in 25 states.

Participation is free, but registration is required. Registration information and a list of videoconference sites are available at www.minority.unc.edu. Questions may be addressed to Minority_Health@unc.edu or by calling (919) 843-6934.

For those unable to get to a satellite site, www.kaisernetwork.org, a free service of the Kaiser Family Foundation, will provide a World Wide Webcast of the first day’s presentations. Visit www.minority.unc.edu/institute/2003/webcast/ for more information.

The videoconference is presented by the Minority Health Project, the UNC Program on Ethnicity, Culture and Health Outcomes and the UNC Center for Health Statistics Research. Major funding comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention, National Center for Infectious Diseases and Office of Minority and Women’s Health, and the Morgan-Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions. The North Carolina Center for Genomics and Public Health and the departments of maternal and child health and health behavior and health education, all in the School of Public Health, also are contributors.

The School of Public Health created the Minority Health Project in 1994 with funding from the National Center for Health Statistics at the CDC.

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Note: Schoenbach can be reached at (919) 966-7436 or vjs@unc.edu

School of Public Health contact: Lisa Katz, (919) 966-7467, lisa_katz@unc.edu
News Services contact: Mike McFarland, (919) 962-8593