# Extending a Caribbean Based Cohort to Promote US-Caribbean Comparisons to Facilitate Research Addressing Black Health Disparities

> **NIH NIH R01** · RESEARCH INST OF FOX CHASE CAN CTR · 2021 · $666,371

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Fifty percent of Non-Hispanic Black immigrants in the United States (US) originate from the Caribbean. Thus the
health of US and Caribbean populations are closely intertwined due to both regional proximity and the high
volume of Caribbean immigration to the US3. US and Caribbean Blacks also share disease burden; cancer and
cardiovascular disease (CVD) account for their greatest health disparities-- killing more Black individuals in the
US and the Caribbean than any other ethnic/racial group. Yet, there is a paucity of cancer and CVD comparative
research between the US-born Black American and African-Caribbean sub-groups. While the NIH has invested
in studying US minority/immigrant populations, comparisons with Caribbean cohorts are needed to untangle the
effect of biological, environmental, behavioral, and cultural health care system determinants of CVD and cancer
risk and outcomes. In partnership with the University of the West Indies (UWI), the African Caribbean Cancer
Consortium (AC3) is already making headway into expanding an existing population-based cohort for cancer
and CVD research in Jamaica. The Jamaica Health and Lifestyle Survey (JHLS-III), conducted in 2016-17, is a
national representative sample of over 3000 persons. The JHLS-III collected bio-specimens and epidemiological
data on CVD, cancer, other chronic diseases and their risk factors, and medical history. To the best of our
knowledge, there are no other nationally representative population-based cohorts in the Caribbean specifically
targeting cancer combined with other chronic diseases. With an NCI-P20 award, the AC3, an NCI-Epidemiology
and Genomics Research Program supported consortium at Fox Chase Cancer Center and UWI have established
a Caribbean Regional Center of Research Excellence in Cardiometabolic Disease and Cancer. This proposal
will be a natural extension of this project by expanding the JHLS-III and building the data mining, storage and
analytics infrastructure needed to harness and share data from epidemiological measures and biospecimens to
promote comparative research in cancer and cardiometabolic disease. This proposed infrastructure building
project will harness and prepare multi-level data for future US-Caribbean comparative studies. We propose to
optimize enrollment and retention of Caribbean nationals in cohort studies by (a) obtaining multi-stakeholder
input and feedback from community health nurses/field workers and JHLS-III 2016/17 cohort participants to
refine targeted enrollment and retention strategies; and (b) evaluating the effectiveness of this strategy relative
to historical enrollment and retention rates. We will repurpose and expand the JHLS-III into a robust longitudinal
cohort of 8,000 participants, collect and store biospecimens, socioecological and health status data in order to
answer questions about NCD (i.e. cancer and CVD) risk and outcomes. We will establish a secure data
integration and sharing platform that ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10129209
- **Project number:** 5R01MD013347-04
- **Recipient organization:** RESEARCH INST OF FOX CHASE CAN CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Kimlin Tam Ashing
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $666,371
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-09-01 → 2023-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10129209

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10129209, Extending a Caribbean Based Cohort to Promote US-Caribbean Comparisons to Facilitate Research Addressing Black Health Disparities (5R01MD013347-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10129209. Licensed CC0.

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