# Center for Health Equity Research (CHER)

> **NIH NIH U54** · UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO · 2021 · $1,399,118

## Abstract

OVERALL PROJECT ABSTRACT
The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) will effectively contribute
to the elimination of health inequalities among minority populations by addressing Structural Violence, one of
the major root causes of health disparities. Structural Violence refers to the multiple ways in which social,
economic, and political systems expose particular populations to risks leading to increased morbidity and
mortality.
The Center assembles investigators from six UIC units: School of Public Health, College of Medicine, UI Health
Cancer Center, College of Nursing, the Institute for Minority Health Research, and the Office of Community
Engagement and Neighborhood- Health Partnerships, and the University of Chicago's Center for Asian Health
Equity to develop multidisciplinary and multi-level research. CHER is led by under-represented minorities
(URM) investigators (including fully bilingual, English/Spanish) with expertise on health disparities and
community engagement. UIC is an R1 Minority Serving Institution and Asian American and Native American
Pacific Islander-Serving Institution, situated in the heart of Chicago, with a long-standing mission of social
justice and civic engagement.
The overall goal of CHER is to advance the science of health disparities by examining the ways in which
Structural Violence contributes to such disparities among African American, Latino, and Asian American (and
their intersecting sexual minority) populations. The Specific aims include:
Aim 1. Strengthening institutional and investigators' capacity to pursue health disparities research on Structural
Violence (Administrative Core).
Aim 2. Provide career development opportunities to junior faculty, post-doctoral trainees, and new
investigators, especially URM (Administrative and Investigator Development Core)
Aim 3. Stimulate and enhance the production of publications and grant applications in Structural Violence as a
root cause of health inequalities (Investigator Development Core and Research Projects).
Aim 4. Support transdisciplinary and multi-level research on the pathways between Structural Violence and
health inequalities (Investigator Development Core and Research Projects).
Aim 5. Facilitate and strengthen community partnerships for the support of engaged scholarship and the
dissemination and translation of research (Community Engagement Core).
CHER consists of three Cores and three research projects: Community stressors and racial disparities in
colorectal cancer risk; Intergenerational transmission of racialized stress and cardiovascular disease risk in
Latino families; and Exposure to violence, trauma, resilience, and mental health in South East Asian
immigrants.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10215258
- **Project number:** 5U54MD012523-05
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT CHICAGO
- **Principal Investigator:** Martha L Daviglus
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $1,399,118
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-23 → 2026-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10215258

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10215258, Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) (5U54MD012523-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10215258. Licensed CC0.

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