# Methodology Core

> **NIH NIH U54** · MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $575,609

## Abstract

This application develops a Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center (TCC) for Health Disparities Research 
on Chronic Disease Prevention within the DHHS-defined Region 5 titled The Flint Center for Health Equity 
Solutions (FCHES). Core Academic Faculty and their community partners bring significant research and practical 
expertise in health equity efforts, behavioral health interventions and epidemiology, geography and the effects 
of built environment on health, and physical fitness and healthy eating in economically distressed, minority- 
majority communities. The TCC targets its initial activities within Flint, Michigan, with plans to extend the scope 
and reach of Center activities more generally across the state and nation. Our long-range goal is to eliminate 
disparities in physical and behavioral health developing, implementing and disseminating community-based 
multilevel interventions and creating sustainable health equity solutions in partnership with a broad cross-section 
of multi-sectorial stakeholders. 
 The Methodology Core will be responsible for development of consistent definitions, theoretical 
frameworks, key approaches, and analytic methods for multilevel chronic disease prevention for the TCC. The 
core includes expertise in epidemiology, sampling, geospatial methods, longitudinal and clinical trials data 
analyses, and health economics (include cost and cost-effectiveness analyses). The Core will conduct a 
comprehensive needs and assets assessment in the community including social stratification, community 
ecological context, cultural factors, and environmental factors. Multimodal methods will be used to triangulate 
findings and identify the underlying mechanisms of disparities within Flint, Michigan and across Region 5, 
including the development of a Regional Database to assess and monitor health disparities and structural factors 
related health inequities. The Core will also provide statistical and cost-effectiveness analyses for Center 
research projects. The theoretical model supporting the multilevel chronic disease prevention model is grounded 
in the social ecological theory and maps onto the analytic plan to address the interventions impact on individual- 
level and contextual factors, the interaction between them and how they influence each other dynamically. The 
Specific aims of the Methodology Core are to: (1) Formulate a theoretical framework, study design, data analysis 
plan, and assessment of community-based multilevel interventions that supports TCC activities; (2) Create an 
accountability structure that ensures the overall success of the TCC and consistency across Cores; (3) Identify 
the unit of intervention and the unit of analysis to address the research questions of the TCC; and (4) Provide a 
systematic appraisal of costs and benefits of community-based multilevel interventions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9877970
- **Project number:** 5U54MD011227-05
- **Recipient organization:** MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Richard Casey Sadler
- **Activity code:** U54 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $575,609
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** — → 2023-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9877970

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9877970, Methodology Core (5U54MD011227-05). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9877970. Licensed CC0.

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