Evaluating the health extension for diabetes program, a community-clinical linkage program

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded Clemson University a $700,000 cooperative agreement on September 30, 2025, to evaluate the Health Extension for Diabetes Program, a community-clinical linkage model designed to prevent diabetes and its complications through structured community-based intervention.

Under the Cooperative Agreements for Diabetes Control Programs (CFDA 93.988), Clemson's Division of Research will conduct evaluation activities through September 29, 2027, with work performed in South Carolina. The evaluation examines whether resource navigation—including tailored county resource guides and structured follow-up protocols—reduces social isolation and improves social determinants of health outcomes in target populations with diabetes risk factors.

The University of Georgia Research Foundation serves as a sub-recipient, implementing the Health Extension for Diabetes Program in target rural Georgia counties under the direction of co-investigator Michelle Parisi, an Associate Professor at the University of Georgia and co-creator of the HED program. Parisi will oversee graduate-level research staff and conduct comparative analysis between comparable counties in Georgia and South Carolina to determine differences in resource needs and the differential effectiveness of structured versus unstructured follow-up on Diabetes Index for Social Determinants of Health scores. The sub-award was issued on December 12, 2025. Clemson's Division of Research previously held the HED license and implemented the program through its Extension model in South Carolina before Parisi's transition to UGA.