U. awarded research funds

Two Penn research groups will in March receive grants totaling $8.4 million from the Pennsylvania Department of Health as part of the national tobacco settlement. Penn is collaborating with several local universities and community groups on two major projects. The funding will be applied to studies aimed at reducing the racial, ethnic, psychological and socio-economic disparities that occur in healthcare and self-care practices. The non-formula grants were divided into $4.8 million and $3.6 million packages. According to Stephen Kimmel, assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology at Penn, one study will develop novel approaches for improving African- American adherence to hypertension medications. This research will examine the effects that lower medical fees or direct intervention by a healthcare specialist have on a patient's capacity for successful self-care. Researchers will also analyze other factors that contribute to improper self-medication, such as memory loss or denial. "The ultimate goal is to develop cost-effective methods which can be applied more broadly to other cardiovascular diseases," Kimmel said. The other research collaboration studies the disparities in the care of mentally ill patients. It will examine whether possible differences in treatment of minorities arise from patient or provider miscommunication. This grant award comes after a national settlement with the tobacco industry that enables states to redistribute funds to specific priority research groups. Pennsylvania will be distributing an additional $59 million in settlement rewards throughout this fiscal year. "This is a real opportunity both to figure out why disparities continue and whether these strategies will be successful," said Psychology Professor Trevor Hadley, who is also director of the Center for Mental Health Policy and Service Research at Penn. "If they really work, the city of Philadelphia is in a position to implement them citywide."