This Project Grant award in the amount of $275,766 from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (CFDA #93.307 - Minority Health and Health Disparities Research) supports the development of a proof-of-concept for HealthYU-Latinx, a technology-based solution designed to improve health literacy for Latinx secondary school students and their families. The funding will enable the creation of a web/mobile-based, self-paced curriculum featuring animated videos, live...
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) awarded a 5-year, $272,000 Project Grant titled "AI4HEALTH: ENGAGING ADOLESCENTS IN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE TO PROMOTE PATHWAYS TO BIOMEDICAL CAREERS" under the Biomedical Research and Research Training program (CFDA 93.859). The goal of this project is to create a game-based learning environment called AI4HEALTH that will introduce diverse adolescents to biomedical careers and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to solve...
This $3,208,297 five-year Project Grant award from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (CFDA 93.307) will examine whether school-based health centers (SBHCs) can improve healthcare utilization and academic outcomes for students with chronic absenteeism, who are disproportionately from marginalized populations. The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is the prime awardee and will collaborate with Kaiser Permanente Southern California, LA Care, and the Los...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (CFDA 93.307 - Minority Health and Health Disparities Research) supports the development and testing of "STEM AS I AM", a culturally relevant, media-enhanced tool to engage Black middle school students and their families in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) learning. The $306,872 award will fund the creation of a prototype and feasibility study in Phase I, followed by a...
This Project Grant award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), under the Cardiovascular Diseases Research program (CFDA 93.837), provides $161,000.00 to Duke University to refine and standardize an evidence-based curriculum called "Reaching Equity" designed to teach primary care clinicians implicit bias mitigation skills. The goal is to address racial disparities in hypertension outcomes, as Black individuals have significantly higher mortality rates from...
This Project Grant award from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) under the Research on Healthcare Costs, Quality and Outcomes (CFDA 93.226) program provides $400,000 to Northeastern University to conduct research on understanding and addressing community health center burden, resiliency, and burnout using systems engineering analyses and approaches. The key products and services to be delivered under this 5-year project include: (1) understanding the nature, extent, and issues...
This Project Grant award of $749,228 from the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute (CFDA 93.837 Cardiovascular Diseases Research) supports a research project to investigate the linkages between HIV/STI prevention and syndemic behaviors in high-risk youth. The key products/services to be delivered include: Harmonizing data from 6 prior HIV/STI and syndemic behavioral intervention studies involving over 1,100 high-risk youth (13-24 years old, diverse demographics) to examine the role of...
This Project Grant award from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (CFDA 93.307 Minority Health and Health Disparities Research) provides $488,640 to the Trustees of Indiana University (IU Indianapolis) to develop and adapt the LT-CARE multi-component referral toolkit. The goal is to address barriers and improve equity in liver transplant (LT) referrals, particularly for underserved minority populations. The LT-CARE toolkit will be adapted for use in community...
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health awarded a $1,800,000 Project Grant under the Community Programs to Improve Minority Health Grant Program (CFDA 93.137) to the School-Based Health Alliance, a nonprofit organization. The grant, awarded on September 1, 2024, supports the delivery of care coordination services in rural school-based health centers to improve health outcomes for minority youth. The School-Based Health Alliance, which operates as the...
This $1.5 million Project Grant from the National Science Foundation's STEM Education program (CFDA 47.076) will support the development of an innovative learning ecosystem to teach high school students machine learning concepts and data science skills in healthcare. The East Bay Educational Collaborative will receive funding from August 2022 through October 2025 to create a data science and machine learning laboratory course for up to 1,000 Rhode Island high school students, with a focus on...
HATS & LADDERS FOR HEALTH: DATA-DRIVEN DECISION-MAKING FOR FUTURE HEALTH CITIZENS AND PROFESSIONALS - PROJECT SUMMARY DESPITE A GROWING DEMAND FOR HEALTH CARE WORKERS AND EVIDENCE THAT A DIVERSE HEALTH WORKFORCE IS VITAL FOR PUBLIC WELLBEING, MOST YOUNG PEOPLE LACK AWARENESS OF HEALTH CAREER OPTIONS AND HOW TO PURSUE THEM. NARROW CAREER EXPOSURE, INSUFFICIENT ADVISING, LACK OF ENCOURAGEMENT TO PURSUE STEM SUBJECTS, AND LACK OF CONCORDANT MENTORS ARE SIGNIFICANT BARRIERS FOR BLACK AND LATINO/X YOUTH-TWO GROUPS CONSISTENTLY UNDER-REPRESENTED ACROSS HEALTH PROFESSIONS. THIS PROJECT WILL HELP THESE ADOLESCENTS TO OVERCOME BARRIERS AND DEVELOP POSITIVE HEALTH IDENTITIES SO THEY ARE MORE CONFIDENT IN THEIR ABILITY TO UNDERTAKE CHALLENGING HEALTH CAREER PATHWAYS AND TO MAKE INFORMED HEALTH DECISIONS. TO DO SO, A JOINT TEAM FROM HATS & LADDERS, INC., MENTORING IN MEDICINE, THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN SCHOOL OF HUMAN ECOLOGY, CAREERVILLAGE AND APPLIED CURIOSITY RESEARCH WILL DESIGN, DEVELOP, AND TEST HATS & LADDERS FOR HEALTH: DATA-DRIVEN DECISION-MAKING FOR FUTURE HEALTH CITIZENS AND PROFESSIONALS (HLH). THIS BLENDED DIGITAL EXPERIENCE TARGETS 9TH- AND 10TH-GRADE STUDENTS AND EDUCATORS IN GENERAL CAREER AND HEALTH EDUCATION PROGRAMS, AND WILL CONSIST OF A DIGITAL GAMIFIED APP, PROJECT-BASED ACTIVITIES, LIVE HEALTH CAREER PANELS, NEAR-PEER MENTORING SESSIONS, AND A ROBUST INSTRUCTIONAL TOOLKIT WITH TRAINING VIDEOS, PROGRESS REPORTS, LESSONS AND OTHER EDUCATOR SUPPORTS FOR PROVIDING ACCURATE, ACTIONABLE STUDENT FEEDBACK. THE OVERALL OUTCOMES OF HLH'S DATA-DRIVEN, INQUIRY-BASED, AND INCLUSIVE INTERVENTION COULD HAVE BROAD REACHING PUBLIC HEALTH IMPACT, AND ARE TO (1) INCREASE STUDENTS' CONFIDENCE IN THEIR ABILITY TO PURSUE CHALLENGING HEALTH CAREER PATHWAYS AND SOLVE PROBLEMS ALONG THE WAY; (2) INCREASE THEIR ABILITY TO FIND, UNDERSTAND, AND USE INFORMATION TO MAKE HEALTH-RELATED DECISIONS; AND, (3) DEVELOP EDUCATORS' CAPACITY TO PROVIDE QUALITY HEALTH CAREER GUIDANCE AND HEALTH LITERACY INSTRUCTION. DESIGNED TO STRENGTHEN OUR ORGANIZATION'S IMPACT ON HIGH SCHOOL YOUTH, OUR INTERVENTION WILL BRING A NOVEL SET OF INTERACTIONS--AS REQUESTED BY OUR EXISTING USERS--AND USE THEM TO DEEPEN INQUIRY-BASED LEARNING RELATED TO HEALTH CAREERS AND LITERACY DURING THE CRITICAL STAGE OF EARLY HIGH SCHOOL. IN PHASE I, THE H & L R & D TEAM WILL COLLECT, ANALYZE AND INPUT DATA FROM CONCORDANT HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS INTO A NEW HEALTH CAREER DATABASE THAT WE WILL INTEGRATE INTO THE HLH APP. TO GATHER THE DATA, WE WILL DEVELOP, AND TEST FOR RELEVANCE, AN ONLINE SURVEY TARGETING 500 RACIALLY AND PROFESSIONALLY DIVERSE RESPONDENTS THROUGH CAREERVILLAGE'S COMMUNITY OF 3,000 HEALTH PROFESSIONALS (52% BIPOC) AND 1,500+ MENTORING IN MEDICINE VOLUNTEERS. A SUBSET OF 25-30 SURVEY RESPONDENTS WILL PARTICIPATE IN VIDEO INTERVIEWS. SURVEY DATA AND VIDEO SNIPPETS WILL BE TAGGED WITH METADATA AND INPUTTED INTO THE DATABASE ENABLING US TO RECOMMEND AUTHENTIC AND RELEVANT HEALTH CONTENT TO STUDENTS WITH SHARED DEMOGRAPHIC AND CAREER ATTRIBUTES. WE WILL TEST USABILITY AND FEASIBILITY OF APP DESIGNS AND PROTOTYPES WITH STUDENTS IN SMALL GROUPS OR DYADS, AND BOTH APP AND DASHBOARD COMPONENTS WITH EDUCATORS USING IN-DEPTH INTERVIEWS. WE WILL ALSO ADAPT TWO STUDENT OUTCOME MEASURES, THE ASSESSMENT OF ADOLESCENT HEALTH LITERACY AND THE CAREER DECISION-MAKING SELF EFFICACY SCALE, USING EXPERT REVIEWS AND COGNITIVE INTERVIEWS WITH STUDENTS, AND THEN TEST THE MEASURES WITH A SAMPLE OF 400 STUDENTS. ALL PARTICIPANTS WILL BE RECRUITED FROM NYC DEPARTMENT OF YOUTH AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT'S NETWORK OF 180+ COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS THAT WORK WITH NYC HIGH SCHOOLS. IN PHASE II, WE WILL ITERATE AND DEVELOP A NEAR FINAL PRODUCT TO PILOT TEST IN FIVE NYC CLASSROOMS TO FURTHER EXPLORE THE USABILITY, FEASIBILITY, AND SUPPORT FROM EDUCATORS. FOLLOWING THE PILOT TEST, IN YEAR TWO OF PHASE II WE WILL IMPLEMENT A MIXED-METHODS RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL (RCT) TO TEST THE EFFICACY OF THE COMPLETED HLH INNOVATION TO IMPACT STUDENTS' CAREER EFFICACY AND HEALTH LITERACY. THE RCT, LED BY THE EXTERNAL EVALUATION TEAM AT APPLIED CURIOSITY RESEARCH, WILL HELP US DETERMINE THE OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS OF HLH TO INCREASE STUDENTS' HEALTH CAREER EFFICACY AND HEALTH LITERACY.