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Office of Cultural Enhancement & Diversity
School of Medicine  :  Office of Cultural Enhancement & Diversity  :  MIRC

Program in Disparities and Diversity in Health (PDDH)

The United States is becoming an increasingly diverse society composed of individuals whose ethnic and genealogical backgrounds trace to all regions of the world. Research detailed in Changing America, a document prepared by the Council of Economic Advisers for the President's Initiative on Race, indicates that as the nation proceeds into the 21st century, the portion of the population with predominantly European ancestry will gradually move towards minority status. In the past decade or so, it was finally realized that the European-descent male model as the standard for medical research is inadequate.

An increasingly diverse population requires that medical research be broadly based and that medical students and practitioners be educated to understand and appreciate a diverse population. The Program in Disparities and Diversity in Health (PDDH) at the University of Kansas School of Medicine was created to encourage diverse, broad-based medical research and to develop curriculum for medical students and practitioners which explores diverse issues in health and medicine. The goals for PDDH are outlined in more detail below.

GOALS:

  • PDDH will conduct collaborative, multi-disciplinary research into areas of health which are of particular concern to diverse and/or underserved populations. This extramural research will be done in conjunction with National Institutes of Health (NIH) initiatives and will be in line with national health goals for the 21st century. Funding for research will also be sought from other federal, state, and private agencies.
  • PDDH will house an Information and Resource Center in the form of journals, books, government publications, videos, and a collection of relevant articles on topics related to health and disease in diverse populations. The articles collection will be accessible and searchable through a data base.
  • The Center will aid faculty in their own research efforts by helping them plan their research, prepare conference presentations, and review articles prior to submission.
  • The PDDH website will provide links to online resources related to underserved populations, allowing access to materials throughout the United States. There will also be an on-line link to the PDDH Information and Resource Center data base.
  • PDDH will be involved in curriculum development for both the School of Medicine and the Masters in Public Health Program. Curriculum development will focus on: understanding the origins of the "race" concept and its biological invalidity; adaptations of populations to varying environments and the impact of these environments on their health; obtaining an historic perspective on the interaction of medical practitioners with diverse populations; social/biological interactions and their impact on the health of affected populations; examining health/disease issues both within population subsets and cross-culturally; and understanding the common biological substrate of being human while valuing the diverse, individual expressions of being human.
  • In addition to the above curriculum development, modules will be developed over a three-year period for each of the four years of the School of Medicine curriculum. These modules will specifically address issues of culture and ethnicity. The goal of these modules will be to provide medical students with the knowledge, skills, values and attitudes necessary to care for a culturally and ethnically diverse patient population. Modules for first- and third-year students will be developed in year one and implemented in year two; modules for second- and fourth-year students will be developed in year two and implemented in year three.
  • PDDH will work with other groups within the Office of Cultural Enhancement and Diversity to aid minority students and faculty in achieving academic and professional success. The collaborative multidisciplinary research program of PDDH will also acquire and take advantage of community partnerships to help shape research problems, assist in recruitment, education and awareness. The Program in Disparities and Diversity in Health will work to improve the lives not only of those directly involved in the University of Kansas Medical Center but in the community and nation as a whole. Research and education can make a lasting difference.