HEALTH WELCOMES YOU
Helping Everyone Achieve a Lifetime of Health (HEALTH) Center for Addictions Research and Cancer Prevention
ABOUT US
Founded in 2020, The HEALTH (Helping Everyone Achieve a LifeTime of Health) Center for Addictions Research and Cancer Prevention was established to strategically enhance the University of Houston's (UH) research infrastructure to accelerate scientists’ capacity to conduct cutting-edge research that informs novel prevention, early detection, diagnosis, and intervention strategies that mitigate a broad range of health disparities - with an emphasis on advancing research in alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use (ATOD) and preventing cancer in underserved communities. This national center is funded by the National Institutes of Health / National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities' (NIH/NIMHD) Research Centers in Minority Institutions (RCMI, U54MD015946).
HEALTH-RCMI BY THE NUMBERS
4
Synergistic
Cores
13
UH
Scientists
24
Community
Stakeholders
100%
Committed to eliminating health disparities
The HEALTH Center for Addictions Research and Cancer Prevention Launches at UH
HEALTH-RCMI Cores at UH
Dynamic Cores that Enhance Institutional Research Capacity
Administrative Core
The Administrative Core (AC) serves as the executive function to provide leadership, centralized management, and oversight. Designed to support the overarching goals of the RCMI at UH, the Administrative Core enhances our infrastructure to advance health-equity science in addictions research and cancer prevention; and increases underrepresented minority (URM) scientists’ productivity, discovery, and funding to pursue innovative research and dissemination activities.
Community Engagement Core
The Community Engagement Core (CEC) maintains a broad-based coalition comprised of service providers, faith-based organizations, community-based organizations, elected officials, stakeholders, and community members. Its framework provides a rare infrastructure for scientists underrepresented in the health sciences to execute high-impact research responsive to community-identified health challenges and feedback.
Investigator Development Core
The Investigator Development Core (IDC) is a resource-efficient incubator for innovative pilot grants advancing health-equity science. These grants break new ground and provide the preliminary data needed for UH scientists to accelerate their NIH funding portfolios. Moreover, the IDC provides the necessary mentorship and intellectual think-tanks to foster the successful translation of the Pilot Grant Program (PGP) into developmentally appropriate NIH grants.
Research Infrastructure Core
The Research Infrastructure Core (RIC) enhances institutional research capacity across 12 colleges and 28 academic units and provides state-of-the-art services to UH scientists in Research Methodology; Laboratory Techniques and Facilities; Data Management and Biostatistics; Health Informatics; and the Responsible Conduct of Research, Ethics, and Compliance.
Behavioral Science Research Project
African Americans have higher smoking rates than European Americans and are less likely to stop smoking due to stress. Smoking tobacco is one of the leading causes of preventable death and disability and leads to an economic disadvantage for the smokers. The Behavioral Science Research Project (BSRP) is overseeing a two-phase program focusing on helping African Americans quit smoking.
GOAL
The goal of the HEALTH Center for Addictions Research and Cancer Prevention is to establish a national exemplar for how community-engaged research can accelerate scientific breakthroughs that can be rapidly disseminated and implemented directly into targeted communities.
GET INVOLVED
Becoming an affiliate of the HEALTH Center for Additions Research and Cancer Prevention provides access to resources and a broad network of stakeholders who are interested in understanding, mitigating, and ultimately eliminating health disparities.
Postdoctoral fellows and early-stage investigators could also consider joining our Professional Development Program that is designed to provide data-driven group mentoring and professional development programming.
