Office of Public Relations — Newsroom
News Release
For Immediate Release
Contact: Tonya Ewers, 303.724.1524, pager 303.266.0941, Tonya.Ewers@uchsc.edu
PhD Student’s Research to Be Supported by a $4.2 Million Grant to Study the Effectiveness of Diabetes Intervention Programs in American Indian Populations
Organizational characteristics will be studied to predict and improve program success
AURORA, Colo. (March 20, 2008) – Each year, millions of dollars from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Indian Health Service (IHS) goes to funding organizations that are seeking to prevent and treat the diabetes epidemic among American Indians and Alaskan Natives. Many tribal programs are successful in implementing social and health programming in these communities while others seem to struggle. Why? The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has announced a new grant to determine best practices when it comes to implementing diabetes intervention programs and has awarded a $4.2 million research grant to the American Indian and Alaska Native Programs (AIANP) at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine for this research.
The 5-year, $4.2 million research grant will be used, in part, to support Tim Noe, a PhD student of Public Affairs at UC Denver’s downtown campus and senior professional research assistant at the AIANP on UC Denver’s Anschutz Medical Campus, whose dissertation work includes evaluating how organizational characteristics, practices and theories can be used to predict and improve the success of diabetes programs by improving the effectiveness of the organizations.
“Through this study, we are identifying those organizational characteristics that are associated with successful implementation of tribal diabetes programs,” said Noe. “We are also evaluating how to assist less successful, underperforming programs in developing characteristics in their organizations so that they, too, can successfully address diabetes in their communities.”
As part of inclusion in this grant, the AIANP at UC Denver is one of 18 centers selected by the CDC to serve as a Center of Excellence in Eliminating Disparities. The focus of the Center is on improving organizational performance of approximately 240 organizations who receive funding from IHS for diabetes prevention and treatment. As part of this research, Noe will serve as co-director of the Center and lead the organizational change interventions and evaluations.
“I am extremely fortunate to have an opportunity such as this to pursue my research agenda and to work toward establishing myself as an independent investigator,” added Noe. “The support of the head of the American Indian and Alaska Native Programs at UC Denver, Dr. Spero Manson, has been invaluable. It is not every day that a student completing a dissertation receives $4 million in funding to pursue his or her research. It is truly an amazing opportunity.”
“Remarkable advances have been accomplished in preventing diabetes among those at risk as well treating patients who already suffer from it,” said Manson. “However, successful interventions in the real world depend not only upon the commitment of patients and providers, but also upon the quality of the organizations that house these services. This Center of Excellence provides us an opportunity to add the perspectives of younger colleagues such as Tim Noe and the tools from fields such as public administration to American Indians and Alaska Natives’ battle with this chronic, disabling disease.”
The American Indian and Alaska Native Programs is a program of the UC Denver School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, and is housed in the Nighthorse Campbell Native Health Building on the UC Denver Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colo. The organization administers more than $63 million in grants and contracts for research. This work involves partnerships with 69 tribes, 38 community-based health organizations, and 12 Alaska Native regional corporations, distributed across 26 states.
The School of Medicine faculty work to advance science and improve care as the physicians, educators and scientists at University of Colorado Hospital, The Children’s Hospital, Denver Health, National Jewish Medical and Research Center, and the Denver Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Degrees offered by the UC Denver School of Medicine include doctor of medicine, doctor of physical therapy, and masters of physician assistant studies. The School is part of the University of Colorado Denver, one of three universities in the University of Colorado system. For additional news and information, please visit the UC Denver newsroom online.