'UK at the Half': REFOCUS poised to reach Black communities, reduce health disparities By Meg Mills
The populations that Danelle Stevens-Watkins, Ph.D., seeks to help are often difficult to reach. It is a common predicament in health disparity research.
In this “UK at the Half,” Stevens-Watkins discusses one of her team's latest projects at the University of Kentucky, which requires asking Black Americans who use opioids to talk about their lives. With funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the team is helping fill a dire need for data on this underserved group.
The fact the study is working likely has much to do with the people who are conducting it. Less than 2% of National Institutes of Health-funded senior investigators are Black and there has been a persistent funding gap for Black scientists applying for research project grants. An exception is Stevens-Watkins’ lab. Read more about the study and team here.
“UK at the Half” airs during halftime of each UK football and basketball game broadcast on radio and is hosted by UK Public Relations and Marketing. To hear the “UK at the Half” interview, click on the play button above.