# Assessing the spatial heterogeneity in cardiovascular risk factors within and between blacks and whites

> **NIH NIH K01** · DREXEL UNIVERSITY · 2020 · $159,705

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
My goal for the K01 award is to establish myself as an independent cardiovascular researcher with expertise in
spatial statistics and disease mapping methods and an integral member of multidisciplinary research teams
devoted to addressing cardiovascular disparities. Attaining these objectives will require focused didactic
training and research guidance.
Training
The proposed career development and training plan consists of four distinct components: (1) career guidance
and mentoring in methodological development and collaborative cardiovascular research through on-site and
off-site mentoring by cardiovascular and social epidemiologists as well as spatial statisticians and GIS
specialists; (2) structured coursework designed at establishing a basic foundation in cardiovascular and social
epidemiology and advanced training in spatial methods in collaboration with geographic information systems;
(3) leading innovative research utilizing the gained training; and (4) contributing in the exchange of ideas in
statistics and epidemiology through conference and workshop attendance. These proposed training activities
will allow me to become well grounded in cardiovascular epidemiology and cardiovascular disease disparities.
These activities will also focus on deepening my understanding of CVD, enabling me to reasonably assess the
spatial heterogeneity in its associated risk factors within and between blacks and whites.
Research
The proposed work will explore the extent to which environmental factors and cardiovascular health (CVH)
vary over space at a small-area local scale and at a regional scale with a focus on spatial variation in CVH
among blacks and whites and spatial variation in black-white disparities in CVH. By combining a novel health
indicator, the CVH index, with novel spatial methods, this proposed work will better characterize the
geographic heterogeneity in CVH for blacks and whites and for black-white disparities. Our novel statistical
methods will be applied to two very rich and unique cohorts, the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA)
cohort and the REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke (REGARDS) cohort. The larger goal
of this work is to define these differences in a way that provides evidence for targeted interventions to improve
the built environment. Additionally, our findings will help support informed health policies to improve the
cardiovascular health of both blacks and whites.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9963037
- **Project number:** 5K01HL133515-04
- **Recipient organization:** DREXEL UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Loni Philip Tabb
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $159,705
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-09-01 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9963037

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9963037, Assessing the spatial heterogeneity in cardiovascular risk factors within and between blacks and whites (5K01HL133515-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9963037. Licensed CC0.

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