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Ann Arbor June 17, 2022
Obesity increases the risk of health conditions such as hypertension, coronary heart disease, and diabetes. Recent findings have also revealed that obesity is a risk factor for hospitalization and death due to COVID-19. In a new supplement to the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier, researchers identify the complex contributors to obesity and obesity-related health disparities and propose strategies for improving the wellbeing of populations impacted by these disparities.

Written by: Anne Heaney

It was sunny and 85 degrees in Orrville, Alabama on April 23 — the perfect weather to open a new walking path to the community.

Written by: Anne Heaney

The UAB Obesity Health Disparities Research Center (OHDRC), powered by the UAB Minority Health & Health Disparities Research Center (MHRC), produced a free resource toolkit with validated measures for social determinants of health – the external conditions that impact health.

Written by: Anne Heaney

Joseph D. Wolfe, Ph.D., an Associate Professor at UAB, and colleagues published a manuscript in the Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences in June 2021, titled “Varieties of Financial Stressors and Midlife Health Problems, 1996–2016.” Wolfe and his team investigated the impact of financial stressors on physical and mental health outcomes during midlife.

Written by: Anne Heaney

A team of UAB Obesity Health Disparities Research Center (OHDRC) researchers recently published a children’s book detailing simple, healthy changes families can make to develop healthy habits.

The book — Where is My Hula Hoop? — was published as part of a project called HABITS, a full research project funded by an OHDRC and led by Gareth Dutton, Ph.D., and Sarah Salvy, Ph.D. Their work is supported by a grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (U54MD000502).

Written by: Anne Heaney

The UAB Obesity Health Disparities Research Center (OHDRC) recently announced two pilot project recipients for 2021-2022. Christy Foster, MD, Assistant Professor at UAB; and Ammar Alishlash, MD, Assistant Professor at UAB; were both awarded funding to complete their research project.

“Obesity is a major public health issue, and we are confident that these two pilot projects will make significant contribution toward the understanding of the intersection between obesity and social determinants of health and associated health disparities,” said Isabel Scarinci, Ph.D., MPH, one of the leaders for the Investigator Development Core.

The UAB Obesity Health Disparities Research Center (OHDRC) has taken its strong history of multidisciplinary collaboration to a new level by collectively expanding the efforts of many centers in the Southeast region. The OHDRC will impact health disparities associated with obesity and related chronic diseases in low-income rural and inner-city communities.

Edwin Aroke, Ph.D., assistant professor in the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nursing, has received two one-year grants to continue his research into racial disparities in pain.

Studies will look at the mechanistic role of epigenetics and the decision-making in pain management by health care providers.