# Addressing Health Disparities among Oklahoma Minority and Rural Communities through Clinical Research Education and Career Development

> **NIH NIH R25** · UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HLTH SCIENCES CTR · 2021 · $537,875

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
A critical mass of clinical researchers is needed to reduce health disparities affecting minority and underserved
communities. The health status of Oklahomans is far below the United States average for many metrics,
consistently ranking as one of the five states with the worst overall health. Furthermore, chronic health
conditions disproportionately affect minority and underserved communities in the state. Clinical researchers
require training, and practical research experiences, in population health, epidemiology, quantitative and
qualitative research methods, cultural sensitivity, and community-based participatory research methods in
order to form effective partnerships with communities to address health needs. The University of Oklahoma
Health Sciences Center (OUHSC), with its long-standing mission to educate a diverse body of students at the
professional and graduate levels to become highly qualified health services practitioners, educators, and
research scientists, is uniquely poised to address health disparities among Native American, Hispanic, African
American, and rural populations in Oklahoma by enhancing the training programs and research career
development programs for clinical investigators, specifically minority and underrepresented investigators.
Furthermore, a critical mass of senior investigators with extensive mentoring experience and a diverse portfolio
of health disparities research projects is available to mentor the cohort of program participants. With an overall
goal to enhance clinical research methods expertise and research careers among minority researchers, we will
complete the following specific aims: (1)To enrich the existing Master of Science in Clinical and Translational
Science degree curriculum to include expanded coursework in methods of qualitative research, community
assessment and intervention, cultural sensitivity, and community-based participatory research with a focus on
health disparities affecting minority and underserved communities, (2) To support and guide post-doctoral
minority clinical and population health investigators in their development of independent research programs
focused on cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes, and rheumatic disease-related health disparities among minority
and underserved communities through mentored research experiences, and (3) To expand the cadre of
minority investigators who have research skills necessary to meaningfully engage with minority and
underserved communities in health disparities research through dissemination of program components to
improve the health of Oklahomans, tribal nation citizens, and communities with similar health challenges. The
training programs will undergo ongoing program evaluation and revision to address the skill development
needs of the researchers. The impact of this proposed project will be broadened through the dissemination of
the resulting training and educational programs.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10202392
- **Project number:** 5R25MD011564-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA HLTH SCIENCES CTR
- **Principal Investigator:** Courtney Wayne Houchen
- **Activity code:** R25 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $537,875
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-24 → 2025-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10202392

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10202392, Addressing Health Disparities among Oklahoma Minority and Rural Communities through Clinical Research Education and Career Development (5R25MD011564-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10202392. Licensed CC0.

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