(March 4, 2009) During February, Drs. Sandra Quinn and Stephen Thomas, from the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, were Visiting Scholars-in-Residence at the Colorado School of Public Health, University of Colorado Denver.  Funded by HRSA through a grant to the Preventive Medicine Residency Training Program, the purpose of the visiting scholars program is to enhance the training of preventive medicine physicians and public health students in education, consultation and research on health disparities. 

Quinn and Thomas offered a one-credit graduate course, “Solutions to Health Disparities: Less Talk, More Action,” as well as each presenting at Preventive Medicine Grand Rounds, consulting with the Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and meeting with local public health and health care professionals focused on minority populations. 

Dr. Carolyn DiGuiseppi, director of the Preventive Medicine Residency Training Program, said, “Integrating curriculum on health disparities into preventive medicine training is critical to achieving health equity.   In just four short weeks, Thomas and Quinn have contributed significantly to the School’s efforts to build an academic community that understands the importance of social and economic justice in relation to health.”

The scholars now return to their respective positions at the University of Pittsburgh, where Dr. Thomas is the Director of the Center for Minority Health (www.cmh.pitt.edu) and the Principal Investigator on the Research Center of Excellence in Minority Health and Health Disparities, NIH-NCHMD.   Quinn, associate dean for student affairs and education, is the co-PI on the Research Center of Excellence as well as co-PI on a 5-year, CDC funded research center, Public Health Adaptive Systems Studies, which focuses on public health systems’ capacities to respond to disasters and emergencies.

The residency program anticipates another visiting scholar-in-residence in 2009-2010.  It will announce next year’s scholar(s) after official agreements and details are finalized.  For more information about the Preventive Medicine Residency Training Program, contact DiGuiseppi at Carolyn.DiGuiseppi@ucdenver.edu.

Photo: Solutions to Health Disparities Class