NIH Health Disparities Seminar Series – June 2012
The National Institutes of Health welcomes Dr. Alex Ortega as the featured speaker for the NIH Health Disparities Seminar Series on June 21, 2012.
Standards for collecting and reporting data on race, ethnicity, sex, primary language, and disability status help researchers, policy makers, health providers, and advocates identify and address health disparities affecting underserved communities. Data serves as a powerful tool to address health disparities because it helps researchers better understand health disparities and hone in on effective strategies for eliminating them. In addition, data collection and analysis allows for an intervention's success to be measured, validated, and replicated.
However, identifying health disparities and effectively targeting and monitoring efforts to address them has been limited by a lack of specificity, uniformity, and quality in data collection and reporting procedures. The Affordable Care Act requires new standards to improve the collection and reporting of health care information and provides HHS the opportunity to collect additional demographic data to further improve understanding of health care disparities. This is especially relevant as the country embarks on the Affordable Care Act, which will likely result in communities having more need to focus on well-designed, large-scale health prevention efforts.
Internationally recognized as an expert on the application of epidemiological methods in health services research, Dr. Alex Ortega understands the importance of using data to better inform researchers on best approaches for replicating and designing interventions. In this month's seminar, his presentation will highlight his work with stakeholders at multiple levels on a community-oriented, transdisciplinary, and transformational intervention to convert neighborhood corner stores in East Los Angeles into venues offering healthy foods. He will also discuss the significance of data collection on designing the intervention and replicating it. (Click here for abstract)
Dr. Ortega is Professor of Public Health and Psychiatry & Bio-Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is Director and Principal Investigator of the UCLA Center for Population Health and Health Disparities, a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-funded Center of Excellence that aims to understand and intervene on cardiovascular disease disparities among Latinos in East Los Angeles. Dr. Ortega received his M.P.H. in epidemiology and biostatistics from Boston University and a Ph.D. in epidemiologic science from the University of Michigan.
Presentation Title:
Innovations in Multi-Level Intervention Research in Latino Communities: Data needs for replication and process implementation
Guest Speaker:
Dr. Alex Ortega (Click here for bio)
Professor of Public Health and Psychiatry & Bio-Behavioral Sciences
Director of the Center for Population Health and Health Disparities
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Date/Time:
Thursday, June 21, 2012
2:00 - 3:30 P.M.
Seminar Video Recording:
Click here to view June's video recorded seminar.
Location:
NIH Campus
Natcher Conference Center, Balcony A, Building 45
45 Center Drive
Bethesda, MD
Additional Information:
There is limited parking on the NIH campus. The closest Metro is Medical Center. Please allow adequate time for security check. The seminar will be video cast and made available in the NIH Video archives and on the NIMHD website after the seminar. Sign language interpreters will be provided. Individuals with disabilities who need reasonable accommodations to participate should contact Edgar Dews at 301-402-1366 or the Federal Relay at 1-800-877-8339.
