New UC San Diego Research Collaboration Addresses National Disparities in Health and Education

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A new interdisciplinary collaboration at UC San Diego will study some of society's most perplexing and enduring problems. The Center for Investigations of Health and Educational Disparities will investigate the cultural, environmental, physical, behavioral, and biological causes of these disparities in the United States.

The establishment of the new organized research unit (ORU) was announced last week by Vice Chancellor for Research Sandra Brown.

"The Center for Investigations of Health and Educational Disparities (CIHED) will promote and support research for a new understanding of health and educational disparities in America," said Brown. "These investigations will result in practical interventions that will allow us to help reduce those gaps and make a difference."

Antonio De Maio, professor of surgery, and Ross Frank, associate professor of ethnic studies, will serve as founding co-directors.

De Maio said that CIHED's initiatives "will allow researchers to directly participate in educational and health-related programs within the San Diego area as part of an outreach effort to involve UC San Diego with our surrounding community."

Another major objective of CIHED, said Frank, is to interact and collaborate with a variety of existing initiatives within UC San Diego that are interested in health and educational disparities while allowing these programs to maintain their specific identities. "In this regard, CIHED will partner with a variety of programs here on campus, encouraging and facilitating the sharing of knowledge and resources to maximize outcomes."

Membership in the center will be open to all interested faculty members, research scientists and scholars, so that the problems can be studied from many different perspectives and diverse areas of expertise.  

ORUs at UC San Diego promote multidisciplinary research and provide a supportive infrastructure for interdisciplinary research that complements the academic goals of departments of instruction and research. The university currently has 35 multi-campus, general campus, School of Medicine, and Scripps Institution of Oceanography-based ORUs.

"Our research efforts are committed to solving the most pressing problems we face in the world today," said Vice Chancellor Brown, whose office oversees the campus ORUs. "We look forward to the contributions this new center will make toward our institution's goals of fulfilling promises and improving lives."

Additional information is available at http://cihed.ucsd.edu.