Skip to main content

(Listed by PI)

Kelly Glazer Baron, PhD, MPH, DBSM
A NOVEL COUPLES- BASED SLEEP HEALTH INTERVENTION FOR OLDER ADULTS WITH OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNEA: IMPLICATIONS FOR ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE RISK AND HEALTHY AGING
Sponsor: National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Dates: 09/15/2020-08/31/2022
Project Description: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a serious and debilitating health condition that affects both patients and their bedpartners' sleep, quality of life and health risk, including cardiovascular and Alzheimer’s disease. The goal of this project is to develop and test a novel couples-based behavioral intervention that seeks to improve PAP adherence and sleep health among older patients with OSA and their partners. The results of this study could significantly advance the treatment of OSA and improve the lives of OSA patients and their partners, as well as reduce risk for downstream consequences of poor sleep.

EFFECTS OF A BEHAVIORAL SLEEP EXTENSION INTERVENTION ON CARDIOMETABOLIC RISK FACTORS AMONG PATIENTS WITH ELEVATED BP/HYPERTENSION
Sponsor: National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR)
Dates: 09/25/2020-06/30/2025
Project Description: One in two adults in the U.S. have at least one cardiometabolic disease (CMD) including hypertension, heart disease diabetes or stroke. Despite links between short sleep duration and cardiometabolic health, few studies have sought to improve CMD risk by extending sleep. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a behavioral sleep extension intervention on sleep and CMD risk factors among patients with elevated blood pressure or hypertension. Successful completion of this study will advance the possibility of increasing sleep duration for improving cardiometabolic health.

CIRCADIAN AND SLEEP PATHWAYS TO CARDIOMETABOLIC DISEASE RISK: ROLE OF NEUROBEHAVIORAL PROCESSES
Sponsor: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Dates: 02/01/2019-12/31/2023
Project Description: This project will investigate how disruptions in the body’s internal 24-hour sleep wake rhythms affects obesity and diabetes risk. We are interested in understanding how disrupted rhythms along with short sleep duration affects eating behavior behaviors (e.g. decreased ability to withstand temptation), metabolism and weight gain over a 12-month period. Results of this study will advance knowledge of the complex relationship between sleep/circadian rhythms providing the basis for new behavioral interventions.


Steven Godin, PhD, MPH
SACRED CIRCLE HEALTH CLINIC TRIBAL OPIOID PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION
Sponsor: Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) / Sacred Circle Healthcare
Dates: 08/31/2020-08/31/2022
Project Description: This project addresses the opioid crisis in Tribal communities by increasing access to culturally appropriate and evidence based treatment in American Indian/Alaska Natives Communities.


Lisa Gren, PhD
PROSTATE, LUNG, COLORECTAL AND OVARIAN CANCER SCREENING TRIAL: CONTINUED FOLLOW-UP OF PLCO PARTICIPANTS
Sponsor: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Dates: 2/27/2021-02/26/2022
Project Description: This extension of the PLCO Cancer Screening Trial enhances the value of the PLCO resources through the substantial increase in the number of incident cancers accrued within the Trial, strengthens the Trial's ability to clarify further the long-term effects of screening on cancer mortality, and provides a final opportunity to collect additional exposure data and expand the existing tumor pathological resource within the PLCO.


Mia Hashibe, PhD
UTAH ADVANCED COURSE ON MENTORSHIP AND LEADERSHIP ON CANCER-RELATED HEALTH DISPARITIES
Sponsor: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Dates: 04/01/2020-03/31/2023
Project Description: The overarching goal of the Utah Advanced Course on Mentoring, Leadership, and Cancer-related Health Disparities is to provide innovative state-of-the-art, evidence-based career development experiences to current NCI grantees to enhance their skills in leadership, mentoring, and cancer disparities research for successful transition to independent academic careers. More specifically, this UE5 program will focus on three educational domains-1) Enhancing Mentoring Skills, 2) Strengthening Leadership Capacity, and 3) Leveraging Cancer-related databases. We bring expertise in mentoring and leadership training through the National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN), clinical and community-engaged research scholarship, cancer-related databases including population databases that are unique to Utah, and networking opportunities available in cancer consortia.

LONG-TERM ADVERSE OUTCOMES AMONG RURAL CANCER SURVIVORS IN A POPULATION-BASED COHORT
Sponsor: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Dates: 07/16/2020-06/30/2025
Project Description: There are an estimated 2.8 million rural cancer survivors today, and they experience lower survival rates than cancer patients living in urban areas. We propose to conduct a study of rural prostate, rural breast, rural colorectal cancer patients and comparison groups of urban cancer patients in Utah and in elderly patients across the US, to investigate whether rural cancer survivors experience higher rates of adverse outcomes such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, opioid use disorders and mental illness than urban cancer survivors. We will also assess why rural cancer survivors may experience higher adverse outcome rates, with possible reasons including differences in the cancer treatment they receive or the distance to care.


Ivette A. López, PhD, MPH
UTAH AREA HEALTH EDUCATION CENTERS
Sponsor: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) /State of Utah
Dates: 9/1/2020-8/31/2021
Project Description: The purpose of the AHEC program is to enhance access to quality health care, particularly primary and preventive care, by improving the supply and distribution of healthcare professionals via strategic partnerships with academic programs, communities, and professional organizations.

UTAH AREA HEALTH EDUCATION CENTERS - COVID
Sponsor: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
Dates: 5/1/2021-04/31/2022
Project Description: This project established tele-education modules designed to protect underserved and vulnerable communities against risk of COVID-19 infection.


Kola S. Okuyemi, MD, MPH
STROKE AND CARDIOVASCULAR RESEARCH TRAINING (SCaRT) INSTITUTE
Sponsor: Fogarty International Center (FIC) / National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Dates: 09/05/2011-05/31/2022
Project Description: S-CART will address a critical deficiency of African scientists committed to a career in stroke prevention and cardiovascular research. Successful completion of S-CART will lead to the establishment of a sustainable CVD research capacity and innovative and contextualized research projects targeted at stroke and CVD prevention.

UTAH ADVANCED COURSE ON MENTORSHIP AND LEADERSHIP ON CANCER-RELATED HEALTH DISPARITIES
Sponsor: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Dates: 04/01/2020-03/31/2023
Project Description: The overarching goal of the Utah Advanced Course on Mentoring, Leadership, and Cancer-related Health Disparities is to provide innovative state-of-the-art, evidence-based career development experiences to current NCI grantees to enhance their skills in leadership, mentoring, and cancer disparities research for successful transition to independent academic careers.

HUNTSMAN CANCER INSTITUTE PATHMAKER PROGRAMS FOR CANCER LEADERSHIP
Sponsor: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Dates: 09/01/2019-07/31/2025
Project Description: This project establishes cancer research programs for high school and undergraduate students, as well as for middle and high school science teachers, to increase the pipeline of students currently underrepresented in the biomedical sciences who are interested in biomedical research careers.

ENHANCED GRANT WRITING COACHING INTERVENTION FOR A DIVERSE BIOMEDICAL WORKFORCE
Sponsor: National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS)
Dates: 07/01/2019-06/30/2024
Project Description: NIH and other national public and private agencies and groups have steadfastly established the compelling need for a diverse scientific and biomedical research workforce, particularly in academia which drives the majority of health-related research and both trains and determines future generations of life science researchers. This intensive grant writing coaching intervention will be rigorously tested and studied in this project.

STIMULATING ACCESS TO RESEARCH IN RESIDENCY (STARR)
Sponsor: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
Dates: 07/01/2018-06/30/2022
Project Description: University of Utah Health will offer the Utah Stimulating Access to Research in Residency (Utah StARR) training program to resident physicians from the departments of Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Pediatrics with the goal of transitioning resident investigators to successful careers as physician researchers to conduct clinical, translational, and health services research. Trainees will be provided didactic coursework in research methods, leadership training and career development, and extensive mentoring throughout the program.


Christy A. Porucznik, PhD, MSPH
C-HEaRT: STUDYING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN A COHORT OF UTAH HOUSEHOLDS
Sponsor: Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC) /Abt Associates
Dates: 05/01/2020-11/15/2021
Project Description: This prospective cohort study among household cohorts in Utah is designed to assess epidemiological and clinical characteristics of SARS-CoV-2, including incidence and risk of transmission, risk of infection, environmental predictors of susceptibility, clinical characteristics of severity, progress of illness, modifying behaviors, serum biomarkers, and other characteristics.

EARLY LIFE EXPOSURES AND CHILD TRAJECTORIES: GROWTH AND RESPIRATORY HEALTH
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Dates: 09/21/2016-08/31/2023
Project Description: The research team will re-enroll members of two previous birth cohorts with existing biospecimens and information about environmental exposures during peri-conception and early pregnancy, which they will use to evaluate innovative approaches to assess exposures at the earliest critical windows of human development, including the microbiome. They will also collect additional data for early life exposures and health outcomes, with a focus on growth, obesity, respiratory health, and asthma.

NRSA FOR PRIMARY CARE
Sponsor: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
Dates: 07/01/2016-06/30/2022
Project Description: This project supports training of postdoctoral trainees in primary care research in order to foster a robust primary care research agenda in Utah and the Intermountain West.


Charles R. Rogers, PhD, MPH, MS, CHES
DEVELOPING A BARBERSHOP-BASED TRIAL ON MASCULINITY BARRIERS TO CARE AND COLORECTAL CANCER SCREENING UPTAKE AMONG AFRICAN-AMERICAN MEN USING A MIXED METHODS APPROACH
Sponsor: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
Dates: 09/18/2018-08/31/2023
Project Description: African-American men consistently have the highest CRC mortality rates, and their CRC-screening uptake remains low for complex reasons. Culture-specific masculinity barriers to care may contribute to the low uptake among African-American men. Examining these barriers to care is vital as CRC screening may challenge cultural role expectations of African-American men, whose tendency is to delay help-seeking medical care. Barbershops provide a pathway for reaching African-American men with masculinity barriers to care who are not regularly receiving healthcare services and CRC screening. This study aims to develop and pilot test a theory-driven, culture-specific, barbershop-based intervention targeting masculinity barriers to care and CRC-screening uptake among African-American men ages 45-75.

DEVELOPMENT OF AN IMPLICIT BIAS CALCULATOR TO REDUCE DISPARITIES IN ACCESS TO ROBOTIC COLORECTAL SURGERY
Sponsor: Research Foundation of American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons (ASCRS)
Dates: 10/1/2020-9/31/2021
Project Description: Despite the role of robotics in surgery expanding exponentially over the past two decades, utilization of this innovative approach remains unequally offered. Researchers have found that race/ethnicity, insurance and socioeconomic status are consistently associated with a lower likelihood of undergoing robotic surgery. This project aims to develop an implicit bias calculator.

AN INFORMED CHOICE INTERVENTION FOR COLORECTAL CANCER SCREENING PREFERENCES
Sponsor: Exact Sciences
Dates: 3/02/2021-03/01/2026
Project Description: This project seeks to provide clinical guidance, scientific review, and coordination of scientific discussions to determine colorectal screening test preference and adherence by study arm and by mode.

DEVELOPING A BARBERSHOP-BASED TRIAL ON MASCULINITY BARRIERS TO CARE AND COLORECTAL CANCER SCREENING UPTAKE AMONG AFRICAN-AMER
Sponsor: V Foundation
Dates: 12/01/2020-12/01/2022
Project Description: The goal of this study is to better understand the reasons why people under age 50 in Utah are being diagnosed with CRC, with the long-term goal of better understanding the etiology of an early-onset colorectal (CRC) diagnosis and improving long-term survivorship and quality of life for early-onset CRC (EOCRC) survivors globally by studying the burdens accompanying this condition.

HCI FIVE FOR THE FIGHT CANCER RESEARCH FELLOWSHIP
Sponsor: Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI)
Dates: 09/01/2020-09/01/2022
Project Description: Dr. Rogers' research focus is on colorectal cancer awareness and prevention among black men.


Karen C. Schliep, PhD, MSPH
HYPERTENSIVE DISORDERS OF PREGNANCY AND SUBSEQUENT RISK OF VASCULAR DEMENTIA, ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE, OR RELATED DEMENTIA: A RETROSPECTIVE COHORT STUDY TAKING INTO ACCOUNT MID-LIFE MEDIATING FACTORS
Sponsor: National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Dates: 09/01/2020-04/30/2025
Project Description: Women have a two-fold higher lifetime risk for Alzheimer Disease (AD), vascular dementia, and related dementias (RD) compared to men. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, including preeclampsia, eclampsia, and gestational hypertension, may contribute to sex differences in ADRD, with midlife experiences such as depression influencing the magnitude of risk. We propose to 1) create a model that can identify AD and related dementias in a large health administrative database; and 2) test the link (and mediating factors) between hypertensive disorders of pregnancy and ADRD, which will serve as the first step towards creating women’s tailored intervention that can mitigate ADRD risk for women.

INTERPERSONAL AGREEMENT WITH THE VA SLC HEALTH CARE SYSTEM RESEARCH SERVICE (VINCI)
Sponsor: Veterans Affairs Informatics and Computing Infrastructure (VINCI)
Dates: 03/16/2020-09/30/2021
Project Description: Dr. Schliep's pilot research themes under this award include the following: 1) Veteran LGBT Health and 2) Veteran Risk Factors for Cognitive Impairment and Dementia.


Kimberley Shoaf, DrPH, MPH
ROCKY MOUNTAIN PUBLIC HEALTH TRAINING CENTER
Sponsor: University of Colorado at Denver / Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
Dates: 07/01/2018-06/30/2022
Project Description: The RMPHTC works in collaboration with several organizations to develop, market, deliver, and evaluate a wide range of trainings based on current needs and public health trends. The Center supports training of the Public Health Workforce via efforts at the Rocky Mountain Public Health Training Center. Trainings are developed for the public health workforce, broadly defined as those who work in public health agencies as well as those who work in other organizations impacting the health of the public, including the health care workforce in medically underserved rural areas and in American Indian Nations.


Joseph B. Stanford, MD, MSPH
EARLY LIFE EXPOSURES AND CHILD TRAJECTORIES: GROWTH AND RESPIRATORY HEALTH (ECHO)
Sponsor: National Institutes of Health (NIH) / Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO)
Dates: 09/01/2018-08/31/2023
Project Description: This study will re-enroll members of two previous birth cohorts with existing biospecimens and information about environmental exposures during peri-conception and early pregnancy, which will be used to evaluate innovative approaches to assess exposures at the earliest critical windows of human development, including the microbiome. Researchers will also collect additional data for early life exposures and health outcomes, with a focus on growth, obesity, respiratory health, and asthma.


Sharon L. Talboys, PhD, MPH
COVID-19 UofU PPPHEA Contact Tracing Recruitment and Training 2021
Sponsor: Utah Department of Health (UDOH)
Dates: 01/01/2021-11/17/2022
Project Description: This contract provides COVID-19 contact tracing, recruitment, and training.
National Initiative to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities among Populations at High-Risk and Underserved, Including Racial and Ethnic Minority Populations and Rural Communities
Sponsor: Utah Department of Health (UDOH) / Centers for Disease Prevention and Control
Dates: 6/1/2021-05/31/2023
Project Description: The research team will participate in the National Initiative to Address COVID-19 Health Disparities, acting as a sub-contractor to the Utah Department of Health. Researchers and staff participating in the grant will provide technical assistance to Utah’s health departments and community partners in reducing health disparities among high-risk and underserved communities. They will assist in improving data collection and leveraging data linkages, evaluating the effectiveness of COVID-19 efforts in reaching underserved communities and supporting public health systems and the healthcare workforce. The grant also supports internships and field placements for Public Health graduate students and AHEC scholars.