NASHVILLE, Tenn. Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), University of Miami and Meharry Medical College were recently awarded a five-year, $11.6 million grant to launch a new center that will enable research using approaches to precision medicine to eradicate health disparities, specifically those among African Americans and Latinos.
The Vanderbilt-Miami-Meharry Center of Excellence in Precision Medicine and Population Health will leverage unique institutional assets and resources to develop novel methods and catalyze approaches to advance population health.
The center will be led by principal investigators with complementary expertise: Consuelo H. Wilkins, M.D., MSCI, Executive Director, Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance; Nancy J. Cox, Ph.D., Director, Vanderbilt Genetics Institute; Maria de Fatima Lima, Ph.D., Dean, School of Graduate Studies and Research, Meharry Medical College; and Roy E. Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., Chair, Department of Medicine, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.
"The future is now ... and this award represents unparalleled possibilities in health care delivery as it will allow us to link genetic data with contextual data to learn why different populations experience different health outcomes. Discovering the answers to these questions aligns directly with Meharry’s mission. I am confident that the research coming from this collaboration with the University of Miami and Vanderbilt University School of Medicine will ultimately help transform healthcare in a way that allows every individual to live life healthier,” said James E. K. Hildreth, Ph.D., M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, Meharry Medical College.
“Team science is truly the best way to advance precision medicine. We are excited about the potential for new discoveries and understandings in how diseases can be prevented, diagnosed earlier and treated with new therapies that target social and genetic drivers…all leading to better outcomes and more hope,” said Steven Altschuler, M.D., CEO of UHealth – the University of Miami Health System.
The foundation of precision medicine is that prevention and treatment strategies take individual variability into account, which has the potential to eliminate disparities. Yet, to date, when developing new ways to treat disease, investigational therapies are often insufficiently tested in minorities, even though efficacy and safety can be highly variable in certain races and/or ethnicities.
“For precision medicine to reach its full potential, we must develop new ways to integrate social, cultural, environmental and biological data to accurately identify strategies to prevent and treat disease among all populations, especially those with disproportionately poor health outcomes,” said Wilkins.
The center, one of three new awards from the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities, will include core programs focused on building and sustaining a regional consortium and developing strategies to speed implementation, diffusion and adoption of precision medicine discoveries. “We will also create two novel cores. One to improve access to the genetic and clinical data of minorities and another to cross-train researchers in health disparities and precision medicine techniques,” said Lima.
Three projects are funded as part of the center. In a study led by University of Miami’s Sunil Rao, Ph.D. and Erin Kobetz, Ph.D., MPH, we will develop new statistical methods to predict risk of disparities, starting with cervical cancer. Dr. Cox will examine genetic risk factors contributing to health disparities and will characterize the relative contribution of genetic risk factors for asthma and pre-term birth, two conditions with substantial disparities in health outcomes among African Americans and Latinos. Derek Griffith, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Health and Society, Vanderbilt University, will lead a study of person-specific obesity treatment for African American and Latino Men.
“This grant creates exciting opportunities for our institutions to collaborate in new ways, applying the power of precision medicine to help answer important questions about diseases that are disproportionately affecting the health of minority populations. Our longstanding partnership with Meharry Medical College continues to result in advancements in knowledge that are positively impacting the health of citizens across the Southeast. I want to welcome colleagues with the University of Miami as they join with us in this new endeavor and look forward to their contributions as we seek to improve the health of the populations we serve,” said Jeff Balser, M.D., Ph.D., President and CEO of VUMC and Dean of the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.
Engaging African American and Latino communities in the Center will be vital to its success. According to Wilkins, community members in Nashville and Miami provided key input to help shape the Center’s proposal and will continue to be involved as part of the consortium and on the Ethics Advisory Board.
“If precision medicine will be used to improve population health and lead to health equity, we must address ongoing barriers to research including issues around trust and genomic health literacy,” said Wilkins.
Key faculty for this project include:
Admin Core
The primary goal of the Admin Core is to develop and sustain an operational infrastructure that promotes efficient use of cores, facilitates access to center resources and responds to the needs of investigators.
- Consuelo H. Wilkins, MD, MSCI, Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance
- Maria F. Lima, PhD, Meharry Medical College
- Nancy J. Cox, PhD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Roy E. Weiss, MD, University of Miami
- Ana Maria Palacio, PhD, University of Miami
Consortium Core
The Consortium Core engages and integrates community and academic partners with interest in health equity and/or precision medicine into the center's activities.
- Olveen Carrasquillo, MD, MPH, University of Miami
- Sonjia Kenya, EdD, University of Miami
- Stephania Miller-Hughes, PhD, Meharry Medical College
- Russell Rothman, MD, MPP, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Derek Griffith, PhD, Vanderbilt University
- Pamela Hull, PhD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Implementation Core
The goal of the Implementation Core is to foster the adoption and dissemination of precision medicine initiatives for racial and ethnic minorities.
- Sunil Kripalani, MD, MSc, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Jessica Williams, PhD, University of Miami
- Carrie Szetela, PhD, Meharry Medical College
- Marino Bruce, PhD, Vanderbilt University
Training and Mentoring Core
The overall goal of the Training and Mentoring Core is to fill the cross-training gap between genomics research and health disparities research.
- David Haas, MD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Fernando Villalta, PhD, Meharry Medical College
- William K. Scott, PhD, MSPH, University of Miami
- Margaret Pericak-Vance, PhD, University of Miami
- Katherine Walz, PhD, University of Miami
- Hector Myers, PhD, Vanderbilt University
- Bettina Beech, DrPH, MPH, University of Mississippi Medical Center
Biorepository and Clinical Data Core
The Biorepository and Clinical Data Core leverages clinical, genetic and sociodemographic data across participating institutions to facilitate new research and drive the development of new data mining methods across racial and ethnic minority populations.
- Joshua Denny, MD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Jacob McCauley, PhD, University of Miami
- Siddharth Pratap, PhD, Meharry Medical College
Project 1
- J. Sunil Rao, PhD, University of Miami
- Erin Kobetz, PhD, MPH, University of Miami
- Melinda Aldrich, PhD, MPH, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Project 2
- Nancy J. Cox, PhD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Lea Davis, PhD, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Siddharth Pratap, PhD, Meharry Medical College
Project 3
- Derek Griffith, PhD, Vanderbilt University
- Marino Bruce, PhD, Vanderbilt University
- Monica Hooper, PhD, University of Miami
- Leah Alexander, PhD, MPH, Meharry Medical College
About the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance
Founded in 1999, the Alliance bridges the institutions of Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University. Its mission is to enrich learning and advance clinical research by developing and supporting mutually beneficial partnerships between Meharry Medical College, Vanderbilt University and the communities they serve.
About Meharry Medical College
Meharry Medical College founded in 1876, is the nation’s largest private, independent historically black academic health center dedicated solely to educating minority and other health professionals. True to its heritage, it is a United Methodist Church related institution, particularly well known for its uniquely nurturing, highly effective educational programs; emerging preeminence in health disparities research; culturally sensitive, evidence-based health services and significant contribution to the diversity of the nation’s health professions workforce. Visit www.mmc.edu to learn more.
About Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Vanderbilt University Medical Center is home to Vanderbilt University Hospital, The Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt, the Vanderbilt Psychiatric Hospital and the Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital. These hospitals experienced more than 63,000 inpatient admissions during fiscal year 2015. Vanderbilt’s adult and pediatric clinics treated more than 2.2 million patients during this same period. Vanderbilt University Hospital and the Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt were recognized again this year by U.S. News & World Report’s Best Hospitals as among the nation’s best with 18 nationally ranked specialties.
About the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine
The University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine was founded in 1952 as the first medical school in Florida and is acclaimed nationally and internationally for research, patient care, education and community service in the United States, South American and the Caribbean. Serving more than 5 million people as the only academic medical center in South Florida, the Miller School of Medicine has earned international acclaim for its patient care and research innovations. The Miller School of Medicine campus consists of 35 acres within the 80-acre complex of the Miami Health District, including more than 2 million square feet of research space, and ranks in the top third among U.S. medical schools in terms of research funding awarded.