By Susan Mann
Caribbean Net News St Thomas-St John Correspondent
Email: susan@caribbeannetnews.com

ST THOMAS, USVI: The University of the Virgin Islands has been notified of its award of a $6 million grant to establish the Caribbean Exploratory NCMHD Research Center for Excellence.

The National Institutes of Health’s National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) awarded the grant to the UVI Division of Nursing effective September 30, 2007.

This is a five-year grant, with awards granted each year after submittal of a progress report with evidence that any conditions or contingencies are met.

Dr Gloria Callwood, Chair of the Nursing Division located on the St Thomas campus, is the Principal Investigator for the new research initiative.

“The Division of Nursing Education is very excited that we have been funded by the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities to continue building on the work begun with the EXPORT Center grant,” Callwood said.

“The Exploratory Center will allow us to do important work within our US Virgin Islands communities to identify and address factors that contribute to poor health outcomes as compared to the majority population."

Callwood said the project will involve initiating health and behavioral research that will provide solid data for planning effective interventions to reduce and eliminate health disparities in the Virgin Islands.

The long term objective of the exploratory research center is intended to reduce and ultimately eliminate health disparities in the USVI. Access to health care, lack of health insurance, high levels of poverty, growing immigrant population, low educational levels, and cultural biases may represent significant barriers to health care, health promotion, and preventive activities in the Virgin Islands.

The research center will provide opportunities for concerted focus on these complex variables as well as other socio-economic issues that might contribute to health disparities within the islands.

In 2004 the University of the Virgin Islands received a 3-year grant from the NCMHD to develop resources and infrastructure necessary for the expansion of research in education and health in the Virgin Islands, through the establishment of another health research initiative, the EXPORT Center.

UVI’s nursing faculty were partnered with researchers from Johns Hopkins University, Case Western Reserve University, the University of Florida and the University of Pittsburgh.

The new $6 million grant research endeavor emphasizes health disparities that will require more collaboration and partnerships in the Virgin Islands community over the next five years.

“We have been given a wonderful opportunity to positively impact the health outcomes of our Virgin Islands people,” said Dr Callwood.