The University of Pittsburgh Center for Minority Health:
Project EXPORT

The Center for Excellence in Partnerships for Community Outreach, Research on Health Disparities and Training (Project EXPORT) in the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh will focus on the theme: increasing community capacity for participation in health promotion and disease prevention research and interventions. The Center for Minority Health (CMH) at the University of Pittsburgh, which will be the home of the EXPORT Center, has this theme as its primary mission. The CMH, established in 1994, addresses the seven priority areas of health disparities including cancer screening and prevention, infant mortality, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, adult and child immunization and mental illness. The proposed Project EXPORT will utilize multiple strategies to enhance the impact of ongoing research to address health disparities, to develop a cadre of minority and other investigators well prepared to conduct research in health disparities, and facilitate the involvement of African Americans in health promotion and disease prevention research and interventions.

Specific Aims

1. Enhance support for and participation in research by the African American community.
   
   
2. Develop a participatory research program where the community identifies and participates in research that is needed to address community needs.
   
   
3. Translate research into usable guidelines for culturally competent and scientifically sound interventions, clinical practice and prevention activities.
   
   
4. Expand dissemination of relevant health education and health information to community members and health care providers.
   
   
5. Train the State Health Improvement Partnerships (SHIPs ) to develop and sustain health promotion and disease prevention activities.
   
   
6. Implement educational programs to increase understanding of determinants of health disparities and enhance cultural competence in order to strengthen research and practice.
   
   
7. Increase the number of African American and Latino students entering graduate degree programs in the health sciences schools at the University of Pittsburgh.