The Center for American Indian and Alaska Native Health Disparities is a Center of Excellence sponsored by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (U54 MD000507). The Center has been continuously funded since 2003, but the focus of the Center differs with each funding cycle, as the health needs of the population change and as our methods to confront disparities evolve.
To meet its goal of nurturing and disseminating innovative research of cognitive impairment, dementia, and Alzheimer's Disease among American Indians and Alaska Native, the Center partners with five Satellite Centers located throughout the US (Rocky Mountain, Pacific Northwest, Southwest, Alaska, and Northern Range) to extend the parent Center’s impact to local stakeholder groups critical to growing and sustaining a successful disparities research agenda. Through this collaboration, we:
>> Brief - AD8 Screening Results with Rural/Urban Comparison for Rocky Mountain Region
The Health Disparities Scholar Program provides financial, logistical, and scientific resources to support early-stage investigators preparing for a career in research. The program uses the scientific review process as a learning opportunity for interested junior investigators and integrates, coordinates, and centralizes research services that support these investigators.
The Center funds innovative Pilot Studies with meaningful implications for personalizing the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cognitive impairment, dementia, and Alzheimer’s Disease in AI/AN communities. Two to three Center Pilot Studies are supported each year, depending upon available resources. In January 2021, two investigators were chosen and their studies are currently underway.