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RESEARCH CORE

Director, Francisco Garcia, MD, MPH
Deputy Director, Mari Wilhelm, Ph.D.

MAJOR SUCCESSES

o The Allan & Alfie Norville Endowed Chair for Heart Disease in Women Research

o Arizona Biomedical Scientist Development Endowment from NIH

o Women and Families Health and Resource Center at UPH Kino Campus

o Women's Mental Health Symposium

o Multidisciplinary Conference: Bridging the gap between psychosocial perspectives& gender-specific medicine

o Women's health residency curriculum

o Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition (CPAN)

VALUES GUIDING OUR RESEARCH AGENDA

o Wellness begins early and continues across the life span.

o Wellness is based on Bio-Psycho-Social Factors.

o Promoting wellness requires partnership, education, and outreach. <

CREATING AN INFRASTRUCTURE FOR RESEARCH

• UPH Kino Campus: Academic Health Center

Inter-Professional Directions:

• Development of a strategy for an integrated, inter-professional clinical practice

– Nursing

– Medicine

– Pharmacy

– Public Health

– Social Sciences

• Proposed initiatives are being refined

– Residency training initiative

– Collaboration with University Health Care Group, a regional provider of insurance

• Opportunities for collaborative research

POST-DOCTORAL SCHOLARS

o NCI Ruth Kirschstein Fellowship

- Catherine Marshall will examine the unique interplay between poverty, literacy and ethnicity among families of women with pre malignant cervical disease

- Sponsor: Francisco Garcia Co-Sponsors: Terry Badger, Linda Larkey, Karen Weihs

o Warmer Foundation Scholar

- Ada Wilkinson-Lee has expertise and interest in Mexican American Studies and Family Health.

- Will be working on the WCOE perinatal wellness initiative, as well as facilitating multidisciplinary responses to emerging funding initiatives.

- Mentors: Francisco Garcia and Mari Wilhelm

o American College of Rheumatology Research and Education Foundation Health Professional New Investigator Award

- Shelley Kasle, PhD. Project Title: The Couples and Arthritis Study, Part 2

- Mentors: Mari S. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Alex Vautra, Ph.D.

COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH

Evaluation Research and Development (ERAD), directed by Mari Wilhelm, Ph.D.

Our team's areas of expertise include:

o Evaluation Planning

o Development/implementation of Data Collection Methods

o Needs Assessment and Logic Models

o Client and Patient Surveillance

o Strategic Plans with Timelines

o Stakeholder Relations

o Dataset Development and Maintenance

o Interviews and Survey Development

o Data Analysis & Reports and Dissemination

Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP), sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education

- Dedicated to promoting post-secondary education

Vail CARES, sponsored by SAMHSA

- Dedicated to strengthening healthy child development, positive mental health, preventing violent behavior and drug use by creating safe and drug-free school environments and communities

Community Partnership of Southern Arizona

- CPSA is the administrative organization responsible for the coordination of behavioral health treatment and prevention services in Southern and Southeastern Arizona.

- ERAD provides technical assistance and performs the system-wide evaluation for CPSA Prevention Providers.

Cervical Cancer Prevention Partnership, a $2.1 million proposal which responds to a recent disparities initiative from the CDC.

- The goal is to provide comprehensive cervical cancer prevention programming in Pima County through an innovative parent-to-parent peer education program,

- a shared training resource for community health workers, and

- a model patient navigator program for women with abnormal Paps

o Partners are Tucson Unified and Sunnyside school districts

Latina Family Partnership- Intergenerational Component, sponsored by Johnson & Johnson

o Purpose: Reduce health disparities by promoting health and higher education options

o Participants: Hispanic girls between 11 and 13 years and their mothers/female caregivers

o Intervention: 13 week after-school intervention plus two night residency stay at UA

o Hypothesis: Girls participating in the intergenerational intervention will have better scores in identified domains (self-efficacy, coping, resourcefulness, communication skills, body image, cultural identity) than comparison girls.

o Partners are:

- the Southwest Institute for Research on Women,

- the Neighborhood Coordinators/ Promotoras del Barrio program (TUSD),

- the Arizona Health Sciences Library,

- the Arizona Hispanic Center of Excellence, and

- the Latina Institute.