Addressing health disparities and advancing health equity

Eleven grants were awarded by the National Institutes of Health for research focused on interventions to address health disparities and advance health equity. A collaborative project with Tulane University, Tufts University, Northwestern University, University of California San Diego, and University of Illinois Chicago titled, “Promoting Color Brave Conversations in Families: A Public Health Strategy to Advance Racial Equity,” was among those awarded grants.

The project will focus on the role that families—in particular, white families—play in addressing racism. A modular app will guide parents in having “Color Brave” conversations with their children to promote critical understandings about race, racism, and anti-racism among children.

Ultimately, the project hopes to reduce racial bias and counteract racism to better address inequities in health.

“I believe this is an important step in anti-racism work, as engaging with white families to prevent racist attitudes, beliefs, and acts among their young children will hopefully have a far-reaching and long-term impact,” said Margie Skeer, Sc.D., M.P.H., M.S.W., associate professor in the Department of Public Health & Community Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine and co-investigator in the project.

The project received $1.4 million and is led by Principal Investigator, David Chae, Sc.D., M.A., associate professor in the Department of Social, Behavioral, and Population Sciences at Tulane University School of Public Health & Tropical Medicine.