Health Disparities

Detroit skyline

Project HEARD Empowers Community Organizations for Effective Policy Change

The project utilizes community-academic partnerships to work toward defined policy goals set forth using a community-based participatory approach.

Project HEARD (Health Equity via Advocacy for Resources in Detroit), a Detroit URC policy initiative co-led by Michigan Public Health faculty and community partners, supports community-led efforts to advance health equity in Detroit and beyond.

A woman holds her head while sitting in a bedroom.

Exclusion of Black and Hispanic women from health studies masked racial disparities on menopausal aging

New research from Michigan Public Health

New research led by University of Michigan School of Public Health reveals that participant selection bias in women's health studies may obscure earlier onset menopause among Black and Hispanic women. The study, published in the International Journal of Epidemiology, highlights the failure to consider weathering—a framework that recognizes the impact of chronic stress and social influences on oppressed populations—as a factor.

Macro photo of a mosquito

Examining the association between Malaria and Burkitt lymphoma in sub-Saharan Africa

New research from Kelly Broen

A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and led by University of Michigan School of Public Health researchers is adding to growing evidence of the association between cumulative malaria infections and endemic Burkitt lymphoma (eBL) in the sub-Saharan African countries of Uganda, Tanzania, and Kenya.

A person holding cigarettes in one hand and e-cigarettes in the other.

Researchers: Rethink e-cigarettes' role in treating cigarette smokers' nicotine addiction

New study from Kenneth Warner

Should electronic cigarettes, or vapes, be accepted more widely as an effective and respected tool for treating adult smokers' nicotine addiction? Kenneth Warner, dean emeritus and the Avedis Donabedian Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at the University of Michigan's School of Public Health, says there is enough evidence to support e-cigarettes' use as a first-line aid for smoking cessation in adults.

A female patient speaks with a medical professional who is holding a clipboard.

Biases in cardiometabolic research put minority women's lives at risk

New research from Michigan Public Health

Biases in heart disease and metabolic disorder – also known as cardiometabolic – studies are putting the lives of midlife Black and Hispanic women in jeopardy. These women are experiencing cardiometabolic risks five to 11 years earlier than White women, but studies designed to gauge these differences often underestimate the disparity, according to new research from the University of Michigan.