Publications

Latino populations, especially those living in rural areas, experience a disproportionately high prevalence of type 2 diabetes mellitus. They are also less likely to achieve optimal glycemic control and have 1.5 times higher age adjusted diabetes related mortality rate than non-Hispanic Whites.

Obesity and poor dietary habits are a significant health problem for children from economically and socially disadvantaged backgrounds. In the USA, children from minority and low-income backgrounds face substantially greater environmental challenges to engage in healthy eating and other health behaviors to maintain a healthy weight.

Crisis and emergency risk communication frameworks are currently being applied in the public health response to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic to encourage public participation in disease containment. Common principles of these frameworks are to be correct, credible and respectful, to promote action and to engage with communities in order to empower decision making.

The childhood obesity epidemic includes well documented health and psychosocial comorbidities that affect 17% of children in the United States. Previous research has demonstrated that children and adolescents from minority and low income backgrounds face substantially greater social and environmental challenges to engage in physical activity and healthy eating to maintain a healthy weight.

In the midst of a well-documented obesity epidemic in the United States, Hispanic adults are 1.2 times more likely to be obese than non-Hispanic whites, representing the highest age-adjusted obesity prevalence in the country.

Somali immigrants and refugees to the United States are at high risk for obesity and related cardiovascular risk. Social network factors influence health behaviors and are important contributors to the obesity epidemic.

Nine percent of the US population has limited English proficiency (LEP), which is defined by the US Census Bureau as speaking English “less than very well.” LEP is an important mediator of health disparities and has been linked to overall poor health and low quality of healthcare delivery, decreased understanding of medical information, and dissatisfaction with care.

Established community-based participatory research (CBPR) partnerships need tools to assist with self-evaluation of the effectiveness and engagement with CBPR principles and to inform ongoing work. A growing part of the CBPR field is focused on the evaluation of partnering processes and outcomes.

Prevalence and consequences of obesity and sedentary lifestyle are well-documented public health concerns for youth in the United State of America (USA) that disproportionally affect children from low income and minority families.

The majority of active tuberculosis (TB) cases in the United States occur through reactivation of latent TB infection among foreign-born individuals. While screening of at-risk individuals through community partnerships is recommended, it is not commonly accomplished.

Populations that immigrate to high-income nations generally have less healthy behaviors than the nonimmigrant majority populations.

Immigrants and refugees often arrive in the United States healthier than most Americans, but with time, their health becomes similar to that of the general population, including with regard to unhealthy cardiovascular risk factors and incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Persons from Somalia constitute the largest group of immigrants and refugees from Africa among whom diabetes-related health disparities are well documented.

Immigrants experience an escalation of negative health behaviors after arrival to the United States.

Lack of treatment fidelity can be an important source of variation affecting the credibility and utility of outcomes from behavioral intervention research.

Ethnic minorities remain underrepresented in clinical trials despite efforts to increase their enrollment.

Immigrants and refugees are affected by diabetes-related health disparities, with higher rates of incident diabetes and sub-optimal diabetes outcomes.

US immigrants often have escalating cardiovascular risk. Barriers to optimal physical activity and diet have a significant role in this risk accumulation.

Surveys are frequently implemented in community-based participatory research (CBPR), but adaptation and translation of surveys can be logistically and methodologically challenging when working with immigrant and refugee populations.

Human subject protection training (HSPT) is a requirement of Institutional Review Boards for individuals who engage in research.