Center for Aging in Diverse Communities Advisory Board meeting
June 4, 2001
Summary of Discussions
CADC: Eliseo Pérez-Stable, Anita Stewart, Anna Nápoles-Springer, Mark Alexander, Martha
Rangel-Lugo, Jennifer Alvidrez, Patricia Arean, Steve Gregorich
Advisory Board: Dorothy Rice, Gladys Sandlin, Shobba Shrinivasan, Seth Landefeld
I.
Summary of Developments since October 2000
• RFA will probably be out by the beginning of next year. We think that it will have
more emphasis on mentoring of pilot investigators, and more collaboration with
Demography, Pepper and other NIA funded centers.
II.
Review of discussions at NIA Meeting in April
• Eliseo presented his summary of what CADC people felt the field of aging research in
minority populations should go, which was presented by Eliseo at the April annual
meeting. Copies of the CADC summary review and the presentation on strengths and
weaknesses at the RCMAR meeting were distributed. It was felt that to recruit a diverse
pool of minority researchers, we might do better to expand our definition of aging
research. Additionally, “aging” may occur at younger ages in vulnerable populations.
• Anita brought up the question of collaboration with Leo Morales and Ron Hays who
may apply to become a RCMAR Center. This collaboration will need to be evaluated in
the future once we know whether or not we will compete for the same RFA.
• There was extensive discussion about the huge undertaking that capacity building is.
• Gladys brought up the value of collaborating with physicians working at community
health centers, that is, building capacity in the community for doing research. These
physicians have expressed interest in doing research (Castulo De La Rocha was
mentioned as one of them).
• Related to this discussion, it was mentioned that CDC is increasingly interested in
having academic-community partnerships promoting public health.
• On RCMAR scholars instead of pilot investigators: extend the program to a 2-year
duration and taking more courses. Having RCMAR post-docs: A supplement with T32
(training grant) focused on minority aging was recommended as a good way to obtain
supplemental funding for post-docs. These T32s have more supply than demand because
they give little money, and are restricted, but they are OK as supplements
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III.
Measurement Conference—Anita Stewart and Anna Nápoles-Springer and Anita Stewart
• An overview of the conference was provided. The conference occurred on May 10-11,
2001 at UCSF and involved top leaders in measurement and cross-cultural research. The
discussions reflected the early stage of development in thinking about measurement issues
among diverse populations in health research. The conference covered conceptual frameworks
for studying health disparities, qualitative and quantitative measurement research methods, and
next steps. Future steps will involve publishing of conference proceedings in Medical Care, a
potential manuscript on clinical research examples illustrating the need for measurement studies
when comparing ethnic and other sub-populations, and future projects that focus on a substantive
area, but incorporate a significant measurement project. Opportunities for future collaborations
include a stronger connection with the demography centers—UC Berkeley led by Ronald Lee
(rlee@demog.berkeley.edu)
• The RCMAR measurement cores produced a special issue entitled “Measurement in
Older, Ethnically Diverse Populations (vol. 7, No. 1, Spring 2001)
IV.
Presentations by Pilot Study Investigators
Jennifer Alvidrez—African American Patients Referred for Psychotherapy—Does
a Psycho-educational intervention enhance starting therapy?
Mark Alexander—Management of CHF by Generalists and Cardiologists within
an HMO: Does Race of Patient Matter?
V.
Community Liaison Core Activities—Mark Alexander
• Letters to investigators sent; 25 total. Three expressed interest in collaboration
• Mark gave the example of the Herpes Zoster study as one that did not yield
useful outcomes.
• EXCEED project led by Mark and Alan Go will begin to collect empirical data
on recruitment methods. Judi Walsh’s study will as well. There is interest from
the cancer center and Margaret Tempero suggested that we work with the breast
and prostate programs. A proposal for recruiting a cohort of patients with chronic
renal insufficiency was submitted with CADC/MERC support.
• The response cards study is being done by the Pathfinders project.
• Mary Lynch, at Over Sixty Program, was mentioned as a potential resource.
• Review of the literature on recruitment is on hold.
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