​American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) are at greater risk of being diagnosed with diabetes than any other segment of the U.S. population, suffer high rates of serious complications due to diabetes, and die prematurely as a consequence. The Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Diabetes Translation Research (CAIANDTR) is one of eight NIDDK-funded Diabetes Translation Research Centers to support and enhance diabetes translation research.

Mission

CAIANDTR's mission is to translate research of proven efficacy into practice in both clinical and community settings, with the goal of improving the diabetes-related health of Native people. CAIANDTR builds directly upon our decade-long coordination of the Indian Health Service’s Special Diabetes Program for Indians (SDPI)​​.

Specific aims

CAIANDTR provides resources locally, regionally, and nationally in areas relevant to the NIDDK's translation research agenda. Our work is specific to AI/ANs, but is generalizable to other segments of the population. CAIANDTR's specific aims are to:

  1. Provide an administrative structure that promotes excellence in translation research and research capacity-building specific to improving diabetes-related health among AI/ANs;
  2. ​​Evaluate the impact of training, technical assistance, and consultation activities on the capacity of other investigators to pursue scientifically meritorious diabetes translation research specific to AI/ANs;
  3. Expand training, technical assistance, and consultation activities, delivered through a Research Base of funded faculty, whose research either targets diabetes or is translational in nature with clear potential for application to diabetes. Services focus on the following emphasis areas:
  • Community outreach and engagement
  • Cultural adaptation of interventions
  • Health literacy
  • Health information technologies
  • Dissemination and implementation
  • Sustainability
  • Qualitative methods
Graphic depicting CAIANDTR's major components, refer to the content below for more information

Core components

As depicted in the graphic, CAIANDTR includes five cores that work together to promote translation research.