A group of Pitt researchers and directors traveled to Washington last week to take part in a… A group of Pitt researchers and directors traveled to Washington last week to take part in a conference on racial and ethnic disparities in health and healthcare.

“This conference represents Pitt coming to the nation’s capital to create a partnership with the federal government on an effort we launched in 2001,” said Stephen Thomas, director of Pitt’s Center for Minority Health.

The summit had been held in Pittsburgh for the past five years, where it was only able to hold 300 participants. This year, more than 2,000 clinicians, physician researchers, public health professionals and practitioners attended.

Members of Pitt’s panel included associate director Angela Ford, project director Sekai Turner, associate director Mario Browne and Thomas – who is also the Philip Hallen Professor of Community Health and Social Justice in the Graduate School of Public Health.

The meetings, research and programs focused on a broad range of disparities found in particular minority groups, such as high infant mortality rates, mental health problems, cancer, cardiovascular diseases and the prevention of chronic diseases through outreach programs in public health.

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt delivered the keynote address last Monday, committing the nation to the challenge of eliminating ethnic health disparities. He announced several million dollars of funds that have been awarded to the National Institute of Health for research on minority disparities.

Officers of minority health from 39 states also came together to create the National Association of State Officers of Minority Health.

“They rolled out the organization at the meeting,” said Thomas, who was added as Pennsylvania’s representative. “I think it’s an important milestone to have that organization.”

The event also honored former Secretary of Health and Human Service Margaret Heckler, whose council initiated federal research on minority disparities in public health 20 years ago.

Thomas said that Pitt sponsored the event because its Graduate School of Public Health was the first to bring federal officials and health professionals together five years ago.

When Thomas arrived as director of the Center for Minority Health, he immediately recognized the need to bring together scientists, community members and public health officials to better minority healthcare in the city.

He organized many initiatives to eliminate ethnic disparities in health, such as the Healthy Class of 2010 Initiative – a program that follows 3,000 middle school kids with a health plan until graduation – and the Healthy Black Family Project, which has covered more than 2,000 families since June 2005.

“Positive responses received from the African-American community have been tremendous,” Thomas said. “At the conference, our goal was to showcase the community-based programs being implemented in Pittsburgh neighborhoods that others around the country can replicate.”

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, led a plenary session at the event that discussed why such inequities exist in healthcare of American minorities. He then instructed the members of the meeting to examine their research and start going into the community to make a difference.

Collins recommended giving attention to social determinants of health, such as environmental conditions, health literacy and discrimination and racism that still serve as a barrier.

Also at the conference, Pitt released minority health archives as a contribution back to the field. Thomas thinks it will translate into more applications in the future from students who want to study public health and medicine.

As one of the well-represented institutes at the conference, Pitt’s Graduate School of Public Health was recognized as the leading researcher in minority health issues.

“We always had a sense that we were doing good work at Pitt and that we were on the cutting edge,” Thomas said. “It’s not until you come to a meeting like this that you realize you’re on the right track.

“People are not only watching us,” he added, “but looking to us to provide leadership.”