New center to study health disparities impacting rural, underserved communities in Pa.
Penn State College of Medicine has launched the Center for Advancing Health Equity in Rural and Underserved Communities. The center's initial focus is on reducing cancer health disparities and improving health literacy and education in cardiovascular health, cancer, and diabetes for minority, underserved, and rural populations. In the long term, the center aims to expand patient-centered health research grounded in precision medicine and implementation science to address health disparities.
“Health disparities are preventable differences in the burden of disease experienced by populations that are historically and systematically disadvantaged,” Dr. Karen Kim, dean of Penn State College of Medicine, said in a news release.
The center will collaborate with Penn State Health's community health care and health equity teams. It is an academic-community partnership with the national nonprofit Asian Health Coalition. The center aims to expand Penn State's research programs to offer a blueprint for addressing health equity locally and nationally.