About the CMHDRE

The mission of the Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education (CMHDRE) is to provide the infrastructure required to conduct research.  In addition, the center is charged with providing basic, clinical, and behavioral experiential training and community outreach education aimed at eliminating health disparities.  The overarching goals of the CMHDRE are to: a) provide an environment to support and strengthen research interest and activities of current and new faculty members related to health disparities with a focus on diabetes and cancer; b) develop student-oriented programs to support and promote student involvement in research activities; and c) integrate health promotion, education, and disease prevention into primary care services.  Accomplishing these goals will increase the ability of the College to produce a pool of well-educated health professionals and biomedical researchers attuned to the issues of disparities research.

The following strategic aims have been identified to facilitate achievement of the three overarching goals mentioned above:

• Close the gap between the burden of illness and death experienced by minority and other medically underserved populations compared to the nation as a whole.
• Promote minority health and health disparities research capacity.  
• Enhance the recruitment and retention of qualified individuals from health disparity populations that are currently underrepresented in the scientific workforce.
• Recruit more scientists from health disparity populations into the fields of clinical, basic, and behavioral research.
• Add and/or expand programs that overcome financial resource barriers to promote a diverse and strong scientific workforce.

Areas of Emphasis for the Center

The CMHDRE began with a primary focus on diabetes and diabetes related illnesses such as Hypertension, High Cholesterol and Obesity.   Over time and an expanding interests in the work of the CMHDRE among faculty and staff, cancer soon became a secondary focus of the Center.   The CMHDRE will also extend support to faculty members pursuing research in the area of Asthma and has plans to build its capacity to conduct future phase III and IV clinical trials in the COP.    Therefore, the overall Areas of Emphasis for the center in priority order are: 1) diabetes research and education and 2) cancer prevention, early detection research and education, 3) Asthma prevention and education, and 4) building the capacity of the COP to conduct future research studies.

Center Leadership

Center Director
Leonard Jack, Jr., PhD, MSc, CHES
Associate Dean for Research
Director, Center for Minority Health, Health Disparities
Research and Education (CMHDRE)
Endowed Chair of Minority Health Disparities
Professor, Division of Clinical and Administrative Services
College of Pharmacy
Xavier University of Louisiana

Editor-in-Chief, Health Promotion Practice

Leonard Jack, Jr., PhD, MSc, CHES, currently serves as Associate Dean for Research in the College of Pharmacy at Xavier University of Louisiana. He is also Director of the Center for Minority Health, Health Disparities Research and Education (CMHDRE), Endowed Chair of Minority Health and Health Disparities, and Endowed Chair of Minority Health Disparities. In addition, he is a tenured Professor in the Division of Clinical and Administrative Sciences, College of Pharmacy at Xavier University of Louisiana. Prior his appointments at Xavier University of Louisiana, Dr. Jack held the Jim Finks Endowed Chair of Health Promotion and a was a tenured Professor of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences at the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center’s (LSUHSC) School of Public Health. Before joining the senior faculty at the LSUHSC School of Public Health, he served as Associate Dean of the School of Health Sciences and Interim Chair of the Department of Behavioral and Environmental Health at Jackson State University. At Jackson State University, Dr. Jack held two academic appointments as Professor of Public Health and Social Work. Dr. Jack has over 14 years of public health experience with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia where he served previously as a Senior Behavioral Scientist, Community Intervention Section Chief, and Leader of the Applied Behavioral Research, Epidemiology, Surveillance, and Evaluation (ABRESE) Team within the Divisions of Cancer Prevention and Control and the Division of Diabetes Translation (DDT). He holds adjunct academic appointments at the rank of Professor in the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine at Morehouse School of Medicine and the Behavioral and Community Health Sciences Program, School of Public Health, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. He was an appointed member of the Research Committee for the American Association of Diabetes Education (AADE). He served as Chair of the AADE’s Cultural Competency in Diabetes Education National Taskforce. He is a past nationally elected member of the American Association of Public Health’s Public Health Education and Health Promotion Section Governing Council. He currently serves as a national board member and Trustee of Ethics and Research of the Society of Public Health Education (SOPHE) and appointed member of the Merck Alliance Foundation’s Diabetes Expert Advisory Board. Dr. Jack has mentored numerous junior faculty members, undergraduate and graduate students over his career. He has made over 90 professional presentations at national conferences and published over 80 peer reviewed manuscripts and book chapters. He has served as guest editor for several special issues and as reviewer or editorial board member for several journals including Diabetes Care, Diabetes Educator, Diabetes Spectrum, Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, Journal of the National Medical Association, American Journal of Public Health, Disease Management and Health Outcomes, Journal of the Poor and Underserved, Health Promotion Practice, Health Behaviors, American Journal of Health Studies, and Psychology Health and Disease. He is Editor-in-Chief of Health Promotion Practice, a peer-reviewed journal that focuses on critical and strategic information for professionals engaged in the practice of developing, implementing, and evaluating health promotion and disease prevention programs. Dr. Jack is a recognized scholar in diabetes management among African-Americans. He editor of a forthcoming scholarly-authoritative 29 chapter book due in October 2009 entitled, “Diabetes in Black America: Public Health and Clinical Solutions To a National Health Crisis”. Dr. Jack has appeared on CNN as an expert on health issues among Black men.  His areas of research expertise include program evaluation, socio-cultural aspects of disease management; psychosocial aspects of managing diabetes; men’s health; family and community-based research. He completed his undergraduate training in Community Health Education with a concentration in Psychology and Biology at Virginia State University and his Masters and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Health Education (Research) from The Pennsylvania State University, University Park campus.

Program Manager

Patrice L. Rose, MPH currently serves as the Program Manager for the CMHDRE.  Ms. Rose is a graduate of the University of South Florida College of Public Health where she received a Masters in Public Health with the concentration on Community and Family Health.  Prior to her work with the CMHDRE, Ms. Rose worked with community health centers to develop registries for diabetes and heart disease.  More recently, she served as an epidemiologist and Project Coordinator for the State of Louisiana's Office of Public Health where she managed the Louisiana Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.   In this capacity, Ms. Rose was a member of several advisory committees including the Louisiana Diabetes Advisory Committee and the State Epidemiology Work Group.  She was also an active participant and a member of the core team of stakeholders who completed an assessment of the State Diabetes Public Health System.  As Program Manager in Xavier’s CMHDRE, Ms. Rose is responsible for the administration of all projects, facilitating the strategic planning process, assisting with the implementation and monitoring of projects, preparing necessary reports, and developing the evaluation instruments.  

In the Community

As part of Xavier University of Louisiana’s College of Pharmacy, the CMHDRE is dedicated to having a positive impact on the community.  Together with many local, regional, and national partners, the CMHDRE works to provide services and education to community members on health topics such as diabetes, heart disease, nutrition, men’s and women’s health, and cancer.  These partnerships allow the CMHDRE to broaden the reach of its programs and activities to have maximum impact on the community.

In June 2009 representatives from Xavier University of Louisiana, the City of New Orleans Health Department, the Louisiana Office of Public Health, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, and Walmart Stores gathered with the community for the Grand Opening of Xavier University of Louisiana’s Health and Wellness Center.  The Center is located at 5110 Jefferson Highway and is made possible by a partnership between Xavier University of Louisiana and an adjacent Walmart.  Attendees enjoyed a cooking demonstration by Chef Leah Chase of Dookey Chase Restaurant, who shared ideas on how to prepare quick healthy foods.

In addition, participants were invited to have routine screenings performed by faculty members from Xavier’s College of Pharmacy.  The Health and Wellness Center is staffed by Clinical Pharmacists who provide screenings, education, and nutritional counseling related to diabetes and heart disease.  Most services offered at the center are free of charge.

Collaborative Efforts

The Center has effectively collaborated with several organizations and institutions.  Examples include:

• Wal-Mart
  The Xavier’s Health and Wellness Center, originally established with a cooperative agreement between the City of New Orleans’s Health Department and Xavier University of Louisiana to utilize space in a city clinic, was severely damaged in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.  Through partnership with a local Walmart store to provide facilities, the clinic was relocated to a new site in Harahan, Louisiana.  This site currently serves as a research facility for faculty and students as well as a training opportunity for students. The Health and Wellness Center is committed to improving the health of the community by providing education, medication therapy management, and screening services to those with diabetes related health care needs in the Greater New Orleans Area.  In addition, the Center seeks to engage the community in research designed to eliminate health disparities.
• University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy
  An articulation agreement is in effect between the College of Pharmacy at Xavier University of Louisiana and the University of Tennessee College of Pharmacy to provide a Pharm.D./Ph.D. program to students.  The agreement promotes effective collaboration between faculty from the two institutions to accomplish the goal of increasing the number of minority biomedical researchers. 
• Tulane University Cancer Center
  Xavier University College of Pharmacy has a long standing partnership with the Tulane University Cancer Center.  Through this partnership, the two universities have been awarded many federal grants and contracts.  Some of these awards include:
  

  Defining the Hormone Activity of Plant Extracts and Dietary Supplements- A component of a United States Department of Agriculture cooperative agreement with the Tulane-Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research (CBR) that supports research examining the hormone activity of dietary supplements used to treat post-menopausal symptoms.

  Developing Breast Cancer Program at Xavier; Genomic and Proteomic Analysis of Signaling Pathways Involved in Xenohormone and MEK5 Regulation of Breast Cancer- This grant supports a comprehensive program to develop breast cancer research infrastructure and pilot research projects at Xavier that will lead to long-term, self-sustaining research programs in collaboration with the Tulane Cancer Center.

  Planning Grant Minority Institution/Cancer Center Collaboration- This grant establishes a comprehensive planning process to develop collaborative initiatives in Cancer Education and Cancer Research with the Tulane Cancer Center that will also lead to future self-sustaining, collaborative programs at Xavier that address Cancer Health Disparities Defining the Estrogen Regulated Gene Induction Profiles of Bisphenol A and Bisphenol A Analogues- A component of the Tulane-Xavier CBR program project, “Biosensors for Defense Applications”. This research project focuses on developing basic science technology required in the next generation of Navy biosensors.

• Louisiana Office of Public Health: The  Diabetes Prevention and Control Program
  Xavier University’s College of Pharmacy has a partnership with the State of Louisiana Office of Public Health in the Diabetes Prevention and Control Program.  This partnership has enabled the College of Pharmacy to be invited to serve on the Louisiana Diabetes Initiatives Council which is comprised of several public, private, and non-profit organizations statewide including pharmaceutical companies and research institutions.  This council has been charged with creating a state plan for Louisiana for the prevention, treatment and care of patients at risk for or with diabetes.
• Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium (LCRC)
  Xavier University College of Pharmacy is a partner in the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium (LCRC). The LCRC is led by LSU Health Sciences Center of New Orleans and Tulane University Health Sciences Center.  The LCRC was established in 2002 by Louisiana Senate Bill 73 to provide a format in which the states research institutions can work collaboratively to address issues related to cancer research and prevention.  Xavier University became a partner in this venture in 2007. 
• Department of Health and Hospitals, Chronic Disease and Prevention Unit
  The CMHDRE provides evaluation consultation to several of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals’ federally funded chronic disease prevention and control programs (Diabetes, CVD, Arthritis, Asthma, and Tobacco) housed in the Chronic Disease and Prevention Unit.  Technical assistance involves strategic planning, the selection and development of evidenced-based interventions, identification of evaluation measures, data collection, analyses, and reporting.  In addition, The CMHDRE provide evaluation and data collection technical assistance to the CDC Healthy Communities Grant through a contract with the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.