Health Disparities Core

The OAIC will support research in older adults with serious illness (OASI) and geriatric palliative care (GPC). New with this renewal is a core on health disparities--Resource Core-Health Disparities (RC-HD)--that builds on a foundation of work from previous cycles. RC-HD will support research that will advance our understanding of health disparities in the longitudinal course of OASI and their care partners. Much of this work builds on our experience using national population-based studies and health system data, but we will also support OAIC investigators with projects that may involve other data or qualitative methods. The RC-HD will establish a new resource to help investigators extend and realize the OAIC’s objectives. This new core will complement and collaborate with the Research Methods and Measurement (RC-RMM) and Population Data Management (RC-PDM) Cores’ analytic and methodologic resources by providing support to OAIC investigators on research in health disparities. RC-HD will accomplish this work through the following specific aims: 1) to integrate health disparity research expertise across all MS-OAIC cores; this will include providing primary support for three External Projects (EP); 2) to collaborate closely with the Research Education Component (REC) to foster the training and development of early and mid-career scientists and to apply a disparity-centered approach throughout the research process; this will include a pilot to match aging-related NIH principal investigators with junior investigator candidates; 3) to create new knowledge and resources to support the conduct of rigorous research to address disparities in the care of older persons with serious illness across different populations; this will include collaborating with the other RCs in the work of two DPs using the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey that will create datasets and methods that can be disseminated and used by investigators; and 4) to work with and participate in Mount Sinai programs focused on reducing health disparities in palliative care, in cancer, and in geriatrics, to coordinate for community engagement, to review REC and projects supported, and to advise on the overall direction of RC-HD. Through integration of health disparity expertise across all of MS-OAIC’s activities, fostering the development of GPC scientists, and actively engaging national partners, RC-HD will address disparities in the care of older adults with serious illness through rigorous scientific inquiry and dissemination of evidence that promotes access to high-quality care for all older adults with serious illness.