Research
The Division of Research was created to conduct rural health research relating to:
- health disparities;
- health outcomes;
- health policy;
- health care delivery systems.
The goals of the center’s research are:
- to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of health care for rural persons;
- eliminate health disparities;
- overcome barriers to access to quality care for the poor and underserved.
The center seeks to raise public awareness of rural health issues via dissemination
of its research findings through publications, presentations and technical assistance
to health practitioners, scholars and public groups. It also provides technical
assistance by supplying information about grants available from federal sources.
UK Center for Excellence in Rural Health staff members are involved in several research projects.
- Rural women, particularly those residing in Appalachia, have some of the nation’s highest
cervical cancer mortality rates. With support from federal and private grants, the University
of Kentucky Center for Excellence in Rural Health is attempting to address this issue. Eastern
Kentucky-based researchers are surveying 18- to 24-year-old female community health center
patients and college students about their risk factors for the disease, and then offering them
free Gardasil, a vaccine against the virus that causes most cervical cancer cases. One of the
projects is The Young Women’s Health Study, funded through a Merck grant. The other is The
Young College Women’s Health Study, funded through a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
grant.
- David A. Gross, director of research, marketing and community engagement, served on the
Kentucky Institute of Medicine (KIOM) staff that compiled a 2007 comprehensive report on the
Commonwealth’s health status, with an emphasis on rural areas.
"The Health of Kentucky: A County
Assessment," contains local health and health-related data, including a ranking of
all 120 counties’ health status relative to the other counties.
- The center’s director, Dr. Baretta R. Casey, was a task force member for a joint KIOM/
Kentucky Medical Association project titled "Comprehensive
Statewide Physician Workforce Study." Among other things, this 2007 report examines the changing
patterns of physician practice, the impact of other health professions and services, and physician pipeline
issues. Gross is a member of the staff that assisted with the preparation of the final report.
- Dr. Casey serves as co-investigator for "An Intervention for Promoting Smoke Free Policy in Rural
Kentucky" (2006-2011; $3 million; National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, NIH).
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