Consortium a 'virtual center' for health disparities research

Updated 11:00 AM November 17, 2003

Consortium a 'virtual center' for health disparities research

By Stacy Anderson
University Record Intern

Faculty members from three universities, including U-M, are working together in hopes of establishing communication and resources related to research on health disparities among minorities.

Gordon (Photo by BMC Media)

Inspired by the Faculty of Color Forum in Michigan's Health Professional Schools, held in October 2001, the Michigan Consortium for Minority Health and Academic Development consists of health disparities researchers from Wayne State University, Michigan State University and U-M. Provosts and key senior investigators have come together to focus on issues such as increasing the proportion of underrepresented minority faculty in health professions and encouraging those with diverse backgrounds to pursue careers in the health field.

"The state of Michigan is the place to come if you want to be trained in health disparities research, given all the people and all the resources that we can showcase," says Dr. David Gordon, assistant dean for diversity and career development in the Medical School. "A lot of these resources are already here, but they've worked separately. This is a way of bringing all this information to a central place so that people can really see the whole spread as to what is available here, with a Michigan stamp on it."

This consortium, which Gordon describes as a "virtual center," is funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation and U-M's Office of the Vice President for Research. Gordon and James Jackson, director of the Research Center for Group Dynamics at U-M's Institute for Social Research and director of the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies, make up U-M's senior university advisory board. They are the U-M co-directors of the consortium. They have attempted to establish a registry of minority faculty at each of the three institutions, especially those in the field of health disparities research, as well as majority faculty in the same field. Their hope is that bringing minority faculty together is the first step in addressing barriers to recruitment, development and retention.

“The state of Michigan is the place to come if you want to be trained in health disparities research.”
—Dr. David Gordon, assistant dean for diversity and career development

"[We] tried to have the roster for people to get to know who each other are and what their research interest is, and hopefully stimulate some networking among existing investigators," Gordon says. "[We used] this as a tool that we could showcase to either people who were faculty candidates or to fellows who were interested in getting into health disparities research. The consortium also showcases seminars and networking receptions highlighting particular senior investigators in health disparities research at each institution in order to spark discussion focused on minority faculty development.

"It takes more than one person to do this. And many times it helps to network not only within your own university, but sometimes you find the expertise that you need at one of the other universities," Gordon says. "Many minority faculty at any one of the institutions frequently feel isolated because there are so few of them, so this is a way of helping to broaden that network."

A faculty and advisory team works among all three schools promoting grant and fellowship opportunities in order to help junior and senior faculty come together. Members of the consortium also hope for the three research universities to grow in prominence in the field so faculty members and people looking at careers in health disparities research turn to these schools.

While the consortium has existed for only two years, the strides made by U-M and the collaboration with Michigan State and Wayne State have shown that there is strong interest in the area of health disparities research, Gordon says. He says interest from all three schools has led to increased participation in consortium events and a more complete registry of members.

Gordon and Jackson, along with the consortium staff, hope to sponsor more seminars and career development workshops at U-M in order to build the overall health disparities research effort.

"This was a very ambitious effort to try and get three research universities and the health schools related to all these universities to come together, but we feel that we've made a good start," Gordon says.

Future symposia sponsored by the Michigan Consortium for Minority Health and Academic Development will be held at Wayne State University near the end of winter and Michigan State University in April. Visit http://www.miminhealth.org/ for a comprehensive listing of minority faculty at each of the universities and a calendar of upcoming symposia, as well as a listing of grant and scholarship opportunities.

Consortium a 'virtual center' for health disparities research

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