School of Rural Public Health Enters Elite Group with Rural Health Research Center

The Texas A&M University System Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health (SRPH) received funding from the Office of Rural Health Policy in the federal Health Resources and Services Administration to create the Southwest Rural Health Research Center.

Only six health research centers exist nationally, and the relatively new SRPH successfully competed against universities and research institutes around the country to enter this select group. The project should result in approximately $2 million in project work for the school over the course of its four-year duration. Dr. Catherine Hawes, professor of health policy and management, will serve as the principal investigator.

Rural Health Research Centers produce findings to educate state and federal legislators and other policy makers. As part of the proposal process, the center selected three areas of rural health policy and research in which to concentrate its efforts. The researchers chose meeting the needs of special rural populations; minority populations and health disparities; and rural systems building.

"This grant places the School of Rural Public Health among leading rural health research centers nationally," says Dr. Jay Noren, president of the A&M System HSC and vice chancellor for Health Affairs. "The school has worked hard to establish itself as a significant new player in the public health field."

The SRPH has three main objectives for the center: (1) collaborating with other Texas A&M System entities on policy analyses and program evaluations for state and federal agencies, with a specific focus on issues related to rural health or health care for vulnerable or disadvantaged populations; (2) implementing and evaluating community health interventions; and (3) conducting health services research that assesses the capacity of rural health systems to meet the needs of rural, minority and vulnerable populations.

"Research within the school has just exploded in the last year," says Dr. Ciro V. Sumaya, dean of the SRPH and holder of the Cox Endowed Chair in medicine. "The research agenda is beginning to show the capability of our faculty. Before this new award, research funding to the school had already increased 40-fold in 2 years, from $0.1 million to $4.0 million so far this year."

The center fosters a multidisciplinary approach to problems, strengthens research efforts, and expands our ability to address major rural health policy issues. The core and affiliated faculty and staff of the center are drawn from several different entities in The Texas A&M University System including Texas A&M University and the College of Medicine in the A&M System Health Science Center.

The center will build a research agenda that is relevant to its region, as well as larger national concerns. The evaluation and results of ongoing projects will allow researchers to identify cost effective interventions, and make recommendations to federal and state policymakers and program officials on programs to replicate in other areas beyond Texas. Moreover, involvement of the center in such projects will ensure identification of the program and policy implications for rural areas.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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