Program in Minority Health and Health Disparities Education and Research

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The University of Maryland School of Medicine Program in Minority Health and Health Disparities Education and Research (PMHHD) educates current and future health professionals about issues related to health disparities, supports relevant multidisciplinary research and fosters quality clinical care for minorities and diverse populations. Former dean Donald E. Wilson, MD, MACP, serves as director of the new program.

The PMHHD will provide a curriculum to assist students and trainees in understanding the importance of cultural and ethnic differences in providing quality health care and will provide a rigorous scientific approach to the identification, investigation, and elimination of minority health disparities.

The program has three core areas of focus: education, research and clinical outcomes. It will implement a curriculum that focuses on undergraduate medical education, faculty development, training and continuing medical education. It will also develop tools to systematically define, measure, and assess health disparities, develop prevention and intervention strategies for delaying the onset or progression of diseases which contribute to health disparities, develop new and improved screening and diagnostic modalities and therapeutic approaches, and advance the understanding of etiologic and progressive factors of diseases where disparities exist in vulnerable populations. The anticipated impact on clinical outcomes will be the prevention of bias in clinical care and the elimination of treatment disparities.

According to Dr. Wilson, the School of Medicine is uniquely qualified to create a minority health program because of its long-standing national reputation and commitment to quality medical education, clinical care and research. “With a formalized curriculum on health disparities, we will be able to educate and train students, faculty and community health care professionals on minority health and health disparities and foster research that defines, measures, and assesses health disparities,” he says.

The new program will include the existing Center for Health Disparities, which was created to identify specific disparities and collaborate with local communities to find appropriate ways to eliminate them.

The center’s director, Claudia Baquet, M.D., M.P.H., professor of medicine and associate dean for policy and planning at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, serves as the deputy director of the Program in Minority Health and Health Disparities Education and Research.

“The overall goal of the new program is to foster the highest quality education and research on minority health and health disparities through a formalized curriculum, which ultimately leads to improved clinical outcomes and reduction or elimination in disparities,” says Dr. Baquet.            

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