VCU Institute for Women’s Health Awards $86,000 in Community-Based Research Grants to Improve Health of Women and Girls

By Pamela DiSalvo Lepley
Division of University Relations

The Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health today announced eight seed research grants and one demonstration project grant to faculty and students who will partner with community organizations to improve the health of women and girls in the Richmond area.

The community-based research awards, worth $86,000, will allow the researchers and community organizations to study and conduct projects addressing community needs like teen pregnancy prevention, loss and depression intervention, prenatal care access, substance abuse treatment and overall healthy living for women and girls.

"These seed grants will enable VCU faculty and students to work with their community partners to carry out projects of direct benefit to women in our communities," said Judy Bradford, Ph.D., director of community-based research for the Institute for Women's Health. "We expect these grants to grow into lasting partnerships with the potential to make a real difference over time."

The research grants support VCU's commitment to community engagement and they focus on research that directly benefits the community. Faculty and students receiving the grants represent academic disciplines across the university, including internal medicine, psychiatry, public health, psychology and social work. Partner organizations represent many of the underserved women and girls in the Richmond area.

"The goals of the Institute for Women's Health are so closely related to our own that this partnership is a natural. We expect the grant results to make a real difference for minority women," said Rose Stith Singleton, program director of the Richmond Healthy Start Initiative.

"The mission of the Institute for Women's Health is to improve the health of women and girls through excellence in clinical care, research, education, community outreach and leadership," said Susan Kornstein, M.D., executive director of the VCU Institute for Women's Health. "Funding these research grants targeted to the specific needs of women and girls in our community is a natural extension of our mission."

The VCU Institute for Women's Health is one of 20 national Centers of Excellence in Women's Health designated by the Office on Women's Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The National Centers of Excellence serve as models for the nation providing innovative, multidisciplinary and integrated health care systems for women.

The Community-Based Research Awards include:

·         Clark-Hill Institute for Positive Youth Development and the City of Richmond's Hispanic Liaison Office & Teen Pregnancy Prevention Steering Committee with researcher Rosalie Corona, Ph.D., VCU Psychology Department, $9,731 award for the project "Barriers & supports to teen pregnancy prevention among Latina adolescents."

·         Healthy Start – Children's Health Involving Parents, Healthy Families and Richmond Behavioral Health Authority with researcher Lori Keyser-Marcus, Ph.D., VCU Psychiatry Department, $9,500 award for the project "Motivational strategies to help bridge the gap from referral to treatment for substance use and depression."

·         Comprehensive Health Investment Project (CHIP)– Richmond and Petersburg sites – with researcher Sarah Kye Price, Ph.D., School of Social Work, $10,000 for the project "Women, loss and depression: building knowledge and capacity for community-informed intervention development."

·         Vietnamese Catholic Church of Vietnam with researcher Anh Bao Nguyen, MA, Department of Psychology, $7,204 for the project "Khoe man la tot hon dep! (Health is better than beauty!)."

·         Cross over Ministry, Planned Parenthood, Chesterfield County Health District, REACH and the VCU Health System with researcher Saba Masho, M.D., Department of Epidemiology and Community Health, $10,000 for the project "Access to perinatal care for uninsured and Medicaid ineligible women."

·         Richmond Behavioral Health Authority with Diane Langhorst, Ph.D., School of Social Work, $10,000 for the project "Improving employment outcomes in substance dependent women."

·         Rubicon Drug Treatment Center with researcher Sarah Meshberg-Cohen, Department of Psychology, $9,500 for the project "Expressive writing as a therapeutic process."

·         Chesterfield Community Services Board-Substance Abuse Unit with researcher Anika Alvanzo, M.D., Division of Internal Medicine, $10,000 for the project "Trauma-informed addiction therapy for women in outpatient community-based substance abuse treatment."

In addition, Bradford, also a faculty member in the Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, will lead a demonstration project that is a collaborative effort of the Richmond Healthy Start Initiative and the VCU Center on Health Disparities. The project, "Engaging the Richmond community to improve prenatal care access," has been awarded $10,000 and will be matched by partner contributions.

For more information about the VCU Institute for Women's Health visit www.womenshealth.vcu.edu.