that fosters the conduct of multidisciplinary collaborative population-based research to understand the causes or mechanisms of health disparities among different ethnic groups in New Jersey and the United States. IEHD also seeks to identify interventions and strategies to minimize these disparities.
The IEHD is directed by Kitaw Demissie, MD, PhD, and its members represent various disciplines (molecular, nutritional and social epidemiology, surgical and medical oncology, and sociology and health services research). In 2011-2012, IEHD has started several initiatives that are in line with goals and strategies of the National Partnership for Action (NPA) to End Health Disparities. IEHD’s main contribution to the NPA action plan was in the area of data, research and evaluation. IEHD initiatives during the past year are as follows:
• IEHD just completed the “Breast Cancer Treatment Disparity Study”. This study included a c ohort of more than 600 early breast cancer patients
about half of whom are African Americans. Patients diagnosed with breast cancer (2006-2012) at all major hospitals in eastern New Jersey were actively identified. The New Jersey Cancer Registry utilized a rapid case ascertainment methodology in Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Mercer, Middlesex and Union counties to identify patients. Participants were interviewed at home, followed by phone interviews, and their medical records were reviewed. A sub-set of participants underwent an in-depth interview about their experience with the health care system. The specific aims of the study were to (a) determine if there is racial disparity in optimal breast cancer treatment; (b) examine racial differences of delays in diagnosis and treatment initiation for breast cancer; (c) examine factors influencing choice between mastectomy and br east conserving surgery; and (d) determine reoperation rates between African-American and White breast cancer patients. P atient-related factors rather than health services-related or provider-related factors were identified as the most promising lead in reducing racial disparities in this cohort of women.
• The March of Dimes and Johnson and Johnson Pediatric Institute initiated a multi-faceted intervention program to reduce disparities in preterm birth in the city of Newark. The catchment intervention areas are those served by Beth Israel Medical Center and UMDNJ University Hospital along with all federally qualified health care centers in the area. I EHD is participating both in the design and evaluation of this unique and p romising program. The multi-faceted multi-level intervention program includes increasing awareness about preterm birth (community-level), centering pregnancy, intimate partner violence prevention, policies to reduce late preterm birth and management of medical conditions during pregnancy (Hospital/clinic level intervention) and training of obstetricians on late preterm birth and cultural competency (provider-level intervention).
Over the past few years IEHD investigators have obtained grant support from the National Cancer Institute and the American Cancer Society to discern the biologic and social aspects of racial disparity in breast cancer mortality. Funding support was also obtained from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to examine the roles of parental immigrant status and the build environment on physical activity among Latino children. Other areas of interest for IEHD investigators include disparities in preventive and medical care among obese and mentally ill patients, neighborhood, built environment and immigrant factors shaping physical activity behaviors in children and a pi lot intervention to improve diabetes control among Latinos. During 2011-2012 IEHD investigators have published their work in several peer-reviewed journals including Cancer Causes and C ontrol, Urology, Journal of Urology, Evidence-Based Medicine, Journal of Maternal Fetal and Neonatal Medicine, and Maternal and Child Health. IEHD is working with St. Barnabas Medical Center to design interventions to improve live kidney donation among African Americans. Similarly, the institute is working closely with the South Asian Total Health Initiative (SATHI) on perinatal, cancer and diabetes related projects affecting the South Asian population. IEHD is engaged in education and community activities by working with the Sisters Network of Central New Jersey and continued to provide summer internships for undergraduate students from New Jersey City and Rutgers Universities, pairing them with UMDNJ faculty mentors.
UMDNJ-Annual Institutional Profile, September 1, 2012 PUBLIC/COMMUNITY SERVICE ACTIVITIES
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For more information on IEHD, contact Dr. Kitaw Demissie at [email protected]. INSTITUTE FOR THE STUDY OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT (RWJMS)
The Institute for the Study of Child Development is a r esearch center comprised of psychologists, educators, and o ther professionals interested in understanding and facilitating the development of children and their families. Current work includes behavioral teratology through studies of the long term effects of prenatal drug and other toxic exposures and conditions; identifying factors that affect behavioral and physiological reactions to stress and t he capacity to cope with stress; the impact of deviant caregiving and traumatic events in the child's life on the development of self- worth and ot her self-evaluative emotions; the study of normal cognitive, social, and emotional development, and the study of brain-behavior relations in the developing child. One of the Institute’s functions related to public/community service includes giving colloquium and grand rounds presentations at various universities and medical schools across the country. In addition, faculty serve on state, county and international committees, including the Board of the Eastern Psychological Association of the American Psychological Association as well as the International Society of Early Intervention and the school board of Montgomery Township, New Jersey. Our faculty also serve as editors on various journals which include Current Psychiatry Reviews, Current Pediatric Reviews, Infants and Young Children, Open Pediatric Medicine and the Roeper Review. They have served as reviewers for the following journals in the past year: Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Child Development, Child Maltreatment, Cognition and Emotion, Cognitive Development, Developmental and Behavioral Psychology, Developmental Psychology, Developmental Psychopathology, Emotion, Infant Behavior and Pediatrics, Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology, NeuroImage, Psychoneuro-endocrinology, and Social Development. The Institute also provides clinical services through the Gifted Child Clinic and Neuropsychological Clinic.