An $11.5 million grant from NIH launches Implementation Science for Equity Center at KU Medical Center

The first four researchers supported by the new center are:

Heather Gibbs, Ph.D., associate professor of dietetics and nutrition at KU School of Health Professions. Gibbs partnered with KU Medical Center’s JUNTOS Center for Advancing Latino Health to create a Spanish version of Nutricity, a program accessible via mobile devices that delivers instructional videos, interactive quizzes, games and text messages to support healthy eating for families with small children. Her project will test Nutricity in pediatric primary care and safety net clinics serving Latino families.

Jaime Perales-Puchalt, Ph.D., assistant professor at the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center. Perales-Puchalt will test the feasibility of an intervention, delivered by community health workers, for Latino caregivers of people with dementia at two primary care clinics in the Kansas City area. That intervention, called ¡Unidos Podemos!, provides support for caregivers of people with dementia and has been shown to reduce depressive symptoms among Latino caregivers.

Taneisha Scheuermann, Ph.D., associate professor of population health at KU School of Medicine. Scheuermann will determine the preliminary effectiveness of an incentive-enhanced text messaging program for smoking cessation, facilitated by an implementation toolkit, for low-income pregnant smokers.

Sharla A. Smith, Ph.D., MPH, associate professor of population health at KU School of Medicine. Smith will test an intervention and implementation strategy to prevent preeclampsia. The intervention, Centering HER (Health, Empowerment, and Reproduction), includes in-person individual and telehealth sessions to address the pregnancy and birth process, self-care, blood pressure monitoring and aspirin adherence. The project will be conducted at two sites that provide prenatal care to most Black women in the Kansas City area.