Administrative Core | Research Core | Academic Core | Shared Core | Renovations Core

This core provides facilities and recourses that are shared by the faculty and that will enhance the efforts of the College to conduct research on health disparities. The two primary shared facilities are the Core research facility, which was established recently with Howard Hughes Medical Institute funding, and the Survey and Virtual Research Center which will be developed through this core and the Renovations and Alterations core.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

• To enhance research infrastructure
• To provide the mechanism and facilities for collaborative research projects in health disparities
• Support individual faculty initiated research sub-projects
• Enhance research knowledge and skills in areas of emerging technologies and areas of emphasis in health disparities research
• Develop a working group of scientists on campus with a focus on health disparities research
• Develop a cadre of clinical, biomedical, and behavioral research scientists with skills, knowledge, and abilities to conduct research that will contribute to eliminating health disparities

SUB-PROJECT 1: A Mixed Method Exploration of Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Students Attending Historically Black Colleges by Sinade Younge, PhD

• Specific Aim 1) To identify the patterns of sexual risk behaviors in a representative sample of students attending a consortium of Historically Black Colleges
• Specific Aim 2) To identify the individual (micro) level, interpersonal (meso) level, and environmental (macro) characteristics related to sexual risk behaviors in a sample of HBCU students.
  • Research Question 1: What specific individual, interpersonal, and environmental characteristics of Historically Black College and University students act as risk factors for sexual risk behaviors.
  • Research Question 2: What specific individual, interpersonal, and environmental characteristics of Historically Black College and University students act as protective factors for sexual risk behaviors.
• Specific Aim 3) To identify the mechanisms under which psychosocial factors (e.g., micro, meso, macro) moderate the relationship between demographic characteristics and sexually risky behaviors among HBCU students.
• Specific Aim 4) To compare students in the AUC with students attending other HBCU institutions and predominately White institutions.
  • Hypothesis 1: There will be a significant association between type of institute students attend and perceived risky sexual behavior.
• Develop a working group of scientists on campus with a focus on health disparities research.
• Develop a cadre of clinical, biomedical and behavioral research scientists with skills, knowledge and abilities to conduct research that will contribute to eliminating health disparities.

SUB-PROJECT 2: Telomere Length as a Marker of Health Status in African American Males by Sharif Sharif, PhD

• Specific Aim 1: To determine if telomere length can be used as a biomarker for biological age in African American men.
• Specific Aim 2: To determine if stress is associated with higher levels of telomere attrition in African American men.
• Specific Aim 3: To initiate a longitudinal analysis of telomere length in African American men.