Research initiative seeks to end health disparities

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The early months of 2020 were ravaged by disease and ignited racial injustice. But the link between the two runs deeper than face masks at protests. At the intersection of health and inequality, Auburn researchers work to inform, educate and end health disparities for disadvantaged communities.

By combining forces across campus, the interdisciplinary Health Disparities Research Initiative (HDRI), led by the Department of Human Development and Family Studies Associate Professor Dr. Thomas Fuller-Rowell in the College of Human Sciences, drives the development of health disparities research and instruction to implement positive, systemic change.

“Health disparities are insidious and harmful to society. Health disparities are also present to a disturbing degree in most societies around the world. Just as we need to be prepared to fight physical disease, we also — just as importantly — need to be ready to fight social and societal level ‘diseases’ like health disparities,” Fuller-Rowell said.

“If stark health disparities and their underlying causes are left unaddressed, perceptions of fairness are undermined, and social unrest in various forms is likely to ensue alongside economic stagnation. In our view, addressing health disparities should be an urgent item on the agenda of scientists, political leaders and society as a whole.”

The HDRI’s pillars of study are socioeconomic and racial health disparities. Socioeconomic health disparities spring from the level of income or education a person has, which will affect their health and longevity. Fuller-Rowell suggests that different types of socioeconomic disparities must be addressed in different ways.

“For instance, access to high quality education and safe neighborhood environments for children from less advantaged families are examples of things that can be addressed through policy,” Fuller-Rowell said.

“Other examples include elitist attitudes that influence our ideologies relating to social class and how we treat each other, as well as discrimination in the labor market relating to social class background. Each of these things can be addressed through policy or intervention and would be likely to have an impact on socioeconomic health disparities.”

One of the HDRI's latest projects is an examination of whether the COVID-19 pandemic has had a differential impact on the health of black and white undergraduate students. The project builds on an ongoing study of undergraduate students at Auburn, which had already assessed the health of 263 students prior to the start of the pandemic. The new assessment, which was carried out two months into the national shutdown, reassessed student mental and physical health and documents exposure to various stressors associated with the pandemic. Their results will provide insight into how the novel coronavirus has affected black and white students, in addition to the broader mechanisms of racial health disparities.

Fuller-Rowell said that given the centuries of oppression, marginalization and exclusion of Black Americans, combined with the well-documented racial disparities surrounding the pandemic, it is no surprise that there’s much more work to be done in our own country.

“Our work in health disparities research today is to understand how the poorer health outcomes of Black Americans are transmitted across generations in contemporary society, and to generate cutting edge science around the types of policies and interventions that can successfully eradicate these disparities."

Across campus, faculty members have made a commitment to engage together and move forward the goals of the HDRI. Professors from human sciences, nursing, pharmacy, veterinary medicine, psychology and more steer the interdisciplinary trajectory of the initiative. At the student level, graduate students and junior scholars are trained to become the next generation of health disparities researchers.

“The pressing nature and complexity of health disparities require fresh perspectives,” said Dr. Jennifer Kerpelman, associate dean for research, graduate studies and outreach in the College of Human Sciences. “Involvement of diverse students and junior scholars will foster innovative contributions to emerging research and outreach programs that offer real solutions and promote greater health equity.”

In addition to its collective body of research, the HDRI also facilitates grant proposals, distributes a triannual health disparities newsletter that highlights new developments in health disparities research and oversees the certificate in health equity science in the College of Human Sciences, which provides research training opportunities to both graduate and undergraduate students.

Fuller-Rowell said the HDRI’s work is an essential first step to ultimately end health disparities. Moving forward, he has plans to grow the HDRI’s efforts in research and instruction at Auburn and use their findings to enact change that will improve quality of life for all.

“Understanding the degree to which health disparities are present and how they emerge makes it possible to inform policy and programmatic changes to address them,” Fuller-Rowell said. “Without data to define the problem, the existence of disparities can be ignored or denied. High quality research shines a light on the issue and is an important component of any plan to address health inequality.”