“弥合少数民族老龄化人口与大学研究人员之间差距”的新中心

到本世纪初，哥伦比亚大学的研究人员可能会发现决定医生如何诊断和治疗少数民族老年人口的新因素。由美国国家老龄化研究所和美国国家护理研究所资助的老龄化研究新资源——哥伦比亚少数民族老年人活跃生活中心(CALME)将作为东海岸唯一的联邦资助的少数民族老龄化相关研究中心成立。其研究重点将从糖尿病、心脏病到抑郁症和阿尔茨海默氏症。CALME由哥伦比亚大学医学系和莫里斯W.斯特劳德III生活质量研究中心共同赞助，位于两个相邻的少数民族社区的中心:华盛顿高地/因伍德和哈莱姆。随着人口老龄化的加剧，人们对老龄化研究的兴趣将会激增。该中心的主要目标是为对衰老领域感兴趣的年轻少数民族研究人员提供机会、支持和指导。每年，作为鼓励年轻的少数民族研究人员的一种方式，该中心将颁发四个发展奖给合格的研究人员。医学博士Rafael Lantigua说:“CALME将使少数民族研究人员能够承担领导角色，参与严格的研究，并证明如何弥补少数民族和多数老龄人口在健康状况和护理方面的现有差距。”哥伦比亚大学内科和外科医学院的医学教授和新中心的主任。许多学术医疗中心周围都是少数民族社区，但对少数民族老年人的健康状况却知之甚少。 The center provides young minority researchers mechanisms to enhance ties with leaders in the surrounding community and experts in the field of aging. CALME will be the site where statisticians, methodologists and experts in the field of aging can share expertise with minority researchers. Through the center, minority investigators will gain and maintain access to elder populations for focused aging research. In return, the neighboring community will be more aware of ongoing research and will give feedback and guidance into the feasibility of conducting certain types of research. CALME will "bridge the gaps" between ethnic aging populations and University researchers by creating culturally sensitive strategies and measurement tools for use in elder minority populations. This alliance -- a new frontier in health care--will pinpoint gaps in the differences among ethnic aging populations and facilitate new enterprises in aging research. "Before CALME there was no single entity to enable researchers to do this," says Barry Gurland, M.D., the Sidney Katz Professor and director of the Stroud Center and co-director of CALME. "Thanks to Dr. Lantigua, Columbia-Presbyterian now has the massive apparatus dedicated to specifically concentrate on these issues." No one person understands the value of these issues more than Dr. Lantigua, who came to Columbia in 1980 as a highly motivated young minority researcher. Today as Stroud Scholar, director of medical research in the Stroud Center, and director of outpatient services for Columbia-Presbyterian, he is the driving force behind CALME. He personifies the center's goals by being deeply immersed in the academic and neighboring aging communities. He brings to the center his clinical excellence and judgment with a seasoned empathy for treating patients. Under his direction, CALME will allow minority researchers to emerge as established researchers. CALME, funded by the National Institute on Aging and the National Institute of Nursing Research, will develop national models in aging research that blend basic research with clinical treatment. For more information contact Dr. Lantigua at 212-305-6262.