CURRENT PROGRAMS

Coordinating Center of Excellence in the Social Promotion of Health Equity through Research, Education, and Community Engagement (CCE-SPHERE)

Coordinating Center of Excellence in the Social Promotion of Health Equity through Research, Education, and Community Engagement (CCE-SPHERE) is the second major grant received by the Institute for Partnerships to Eliminate Health Disparities (IPEHD) from the National Institutes of Health. It will allow the University of South Carolina, Claflin University, and the Orangeburg Community to continue the work started in its previous Center of Excellence in Cancer and HIV Research. Both projects focus on advancing research, education and training, and community outreach/community engagement.

For more information please visit the website at http://www.sc.edu/CCE-SPHERE/

Fort Jackson Identifying Health Barriers Project:
Soldier Health Promotion to Examine and Reduce Health Disparities (SHPERHD)

Principal Investigator: Saundra Glover, PhD Director of the Institute for Partnerships to Eliminate Health Disparities   Principal Investigator: LTC Sonya J. Cable Director of the Experimentation & Analysis Element (EAE), USABCTCoE and Fort Jackson

The USC-Institute for Partnerships to Eliminate Health Disparities (IPEHD) has secured a $7.4 million-dollar cooperative agreement with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC) through a Department of Defense effort to address disparate health issues at Fort Jackson, the nation’s largest training Army Base in Columbia, SC.

The focus of the SHPERHD project will examine the root causes of military attrition and many of the issues that contribute to Soldier health issues (diet, military environment, physical activity patterns, physical readiness, stressors and anxiety), both pre- and post-deployment. A key area of focus will be post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mental health.

SHPERHD project brings together USC researchers with expertise in nutrition and diet intervention, physical fitness and musculoskeletal injuries, athletic training, and mental health research. Among the primary objectives are to assess baseline data of military personnel at key stages of recruitment through basic combat training to better develop the appropriate interventions to reduce attrition.

The Prostate Cancer Disparities Center of Economic Excellence (CoEE)

In 2005 460 African American men died in South Carolina as a result of prostate cancer. In fact, South Carolina ranks third in the nation for the number of men who die from prostate cancer. For generations, African American men have been the most impacted by this disease and are usually diagnosed with the most aggressive form of the illness and at younger ages. African American men are also three times more likely to die from the illness than other populations.

In order to address cancer disparities that exist in South Carolina, the Cancer Disparities Research Center of Economic Excellence (CoEE) was created in 2008 by the South Carolina Legislature. The purpose of the Center is to stimulate health disparities research as well as to generate the most comprehensive and coordinated cancer research effort ever conducted in the state. The Center will attract the talents of the best cancer researchers, research institutions, and public health professionals who will conduct clinical trials aimed at reducing prostate cancer in South Carolina.

For the Center to be successful, researchers will network with community leaders to bridge the gap of cancer disparities, with a focus on prostate cancer, though efforts based on education, screenings, and programs emphasizing proper nutrition, healthy lifestyles and timely access to quality and affordable healthcare. Most importantly, these efforts will ultimately change and save lives of African Americans in South Carolina.

Cervical cancer screening and HIV testing behaviors among financially disadvantaged women in South Carolina

Principal Investigator:
Heather M. Brandt, PhD, CHES, Assistant Professor
Department of Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior and
Cancer Prevention and Control Program
Arnold School of Public Health
University of South Carolina
 

Co-Principal Investigator:
Lisa T. Wigfall, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Institute for Partnerships to Eliminate Health Disparities
University of South Carolina
 

Participation in cervical cancer screening is relatively high while HIV testing uptake remains low, which points to a potential opportunity for earlier intervention. Further, HIV+ women are purportedly less likely to have Pap tests as frequently as recommended despite increased risk of cervical cancer. The proposed research is a secondary data analysis of the South Carolina (SC) Medicaid database (females, aged 18-64 unless otherwise noted) with linkage to the SC HIV/AIDS Reporting System (HARS) database for HIV+ women to learn more about the scope of this problem in SC. The specific aims are to: 1) Describe cervical cancer screening and HIV testing behaviors; 2) Identify sociodemographic factors associated with these preventive health behaviors among females with unknown HIV status; 3) Identify sociodemographic and HIV-related clinical factors associated with preventive health behaviors among females who are HIV-positive; 4) Identify sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with these preventive health behaviors among females aged 40-64 years who have been diagnosed with breast and/or cervical cancer; and 5) Create county-level maps using spatial epidemiology techniques to show utilization of cervical cancer screening and HIV testing health services. The proposed research will result in evidence to support cervical cancer screening among HIV-positive women to reduce AIDS-related deaths from cervical cancer, and Pap testing as a potential missed opportunity to promote the uptake of HIV testing among post-reproductive age women for an earlier diagnosis of HIV infection among an interdisciplinary team of researchers.

This project is supported by the South Carolina Clinical & Translational Research (SCTR) Institute, with an academic home at the Medical University of South Carolina, NIH/NCRR Grant Number UL1RR029882. Drs. Heather M. Brandt and Lisa T. Wigfall are co-Principal Investigators. Other Co-Investigators include the following: Dr. Sharon Bond from MUSC, Dr. Wayne A. Duffus from USC School of Medicine, South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, and Drs. Saundra H. Glover, James R. Hébert, and Robin Puett from USC.

Administrative Supplements for Community-Engaged Research on HIV/AIDS-Related Cancers among Underserved Populations

Principal Investigator:
James R. Hébert, ScD, Professor
Cancer Prevention and Control Program
Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Arnold School of Public Health
University of South Carolina

Project Leader:
Lisa T. Wigfall, PhD, Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Institute for Partnerships to Eliminate Health Disparities
University of South Carolina

The Administrative supplements for community-engaged research on HIV/AIDS-related cancers among underserved populations pilot study will examine human papillomavirus (HPV) and cervical cancer screening knowledge, attitudes, beliefs, and screening behaviors, as well as dietary intake of fat, fruits and vegetables among living women with HIV/AIDS in Richland and Orangeburg counties. These two areas have been selected to examine rural versus urban differences in these health outcomes. The data gathered from this formative research will be used to develop an HPV/cervical cancer prevention and control program that will be aimed at women living with HIV/AIDS. This pilot study will be done in two phases:

Phase 1 of the study will examine: 1) HPV/cervical cancer knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs; 2) cervical cancer screening and abnormal follow-up behaviors; 3) dietary intake of fat, fruits and vegetables; and 4) validity of self-reported Pap testing behavior among HIV-positive women.

Phase 2 will explore: 1) patient-provider relationship dynamics; 2) HIV stigma and other negative perceptions that impede access to health care services; 3) physical/social environmental (including health care policies) barriers and facilitators to health care access; and 4) other factors that mediate/moderate the utilization of HPV/cervical cancer screening, preventive, and treatment services among women living with HIV/AIDS. The overarching aim of this pilot study is to reduce HPV/cervical cancer health disparities in the target population.

This pilot study is a supplemental award (grant number U01CA114601-05S4) funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute – Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities under the parent grant, the South Carolina Cancer Disparities Community Network (SCCDCN) (grant number U01CA114601-05), of which Dr. James R. Hébert is the Principal Investigator. Other Co-Investigators include the following: Drs. Heather M. Brandt, Saundra H. Glover, Tom Hurley, and Donna L. Richter. Complementing this team of investigators includes the following research staff: Renee Sewell, Program Coordinator/Data Manager; Ericka Burroughs, Research Associate/Interviewer; and Pat Kelly, Community Liaison for Orangeburg County and surrounding areas.

An Intervention to Reduce Psychosocial and Biological Indicators of Stress in African-American Lupus Patients: The Balancing Lupus Experience with Stress Strategies (BLESS) Study

Edith Williams. Ph.D, MS
Principal Investigator
Deputy Director for Research and Sustainability
Institute for Partnerships to Eliminate Health Disparities
University of South Carolina

Dr. James C. Oates, M.D.
Project Mentor
Associate Professor, Medical University of South Carolina
Associate Director, Clinical and Translational Research Center
M.D., Johns Hopkins University




The Intervention to Reduce Psychosocial and Biological Indicators of Stress in African-American Lupus Patients: The Balancing Lupus Experience with Stress Strategies (BLESS) Study is a partnership between the University of South Carolina- Institute for Partnerships to Eliminate Health Disparities (IPEHD) and Medical University of South Carolina. This project will investigate the psychosocial stress which is believed to be positively associated with lupus disease activity due to its ability to compromise immune function.

Currently, very little is known about the impact of stress on underlying disease processes, although research suggests that lupus patients differ from the general population in stress-induced immune responses. Even less is known about this phenomenon in African American lupus patients; although as a group African Americans display the highest rates of lupus. Due to the exposure of African Americans to a unique progression of stressors throughout life, it may be critical to understand the relationship between psychosocial stress and how it may influence disease activity and pathology in this high risk group.

To begin to fill this research void, a stress intervention will be piloted and markers of psychosocial responses to stress will be collected among a group of African American lupus patients participating in an ongoing “Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) Clinic Database Project” directed by the Medical University of South Carolina Lupus Erythematosus (M.U.S.C.L.E.) Clinical Research Group. This intervention will address the following specific aims:

Aim 1 will focus on validating a stress intervention in an African American Lupus population to verify whether there will be a reduction in perceived stress from baseline to following the intervention in African American lupus patients who participate in the intervention compared with those who do not participate in the intervention.

Aim 2 will assess the impact of stress on the quality of life in African American lupus patients to assess whether participation in stress intervention will be positively related to quality of life in African American lupus patients.

Linking a psychosocial stress intervention with standardized measures of stress in African American lupus patients will evaluate the significance of reducing stress in this population, and provide the necessary preliminary steps toward future investigations of disease pathways.

The project is supported by Pfizer’s Medical and Academic Partnerships (MAP) Program with the Coordinating Center at the Medical University of South Carolina. Dr. Edith Williams is the Principal Investigator and Dr. James Oates serves as the Project Mentor. Supporting personnel are: Anna Meyer, Brittany Smalls, Imani Fickling and Liezl de Lacruz , Study Coordinators; Gary Gilkeson, Diane Kamen, and Holly Mitchell, Project Rheumatologists; Carlon Mitchell, Arthrits Coordinaor; and Megan Kula serving as the Project Biostatician. Further administrative support is provided by Susan Cwik and Lori Ueborroth with Keith Boyd functioning as the Graduate Assistant of the project.