Yvonne T. Maddox

Grand Challenges in Global Mental Health: Integration in Research, Policy, and Practice

In the first article of a five-part series providing a global perspective on integrating mental health, Pamela Collins and colleagues set the scene for why mental health care should be combined with priority programs on maternal and child health, non-communicable diseases, and HIV, and how this might be done.

Experimental approaches to chronic wounds

The pathogenesis of most chronic wounds is unknown. In this report, we summarize several areas of investigation which appear ready for further progress and which were discussed at a recent National Institutes of Health workshop on this subject. Of note were presentations of research on the role of fibrosis in wound healing, interaction of cytokines, hypoxia, extracellular matrix formation, keratinocyte migration, and involvement of proteases and neuropeptides in chronic wounds.

Surgical Disparities: A Comprehensive Review and New Conceptual Framework

Received February 11, 2016; Revised April 8, 2016; Acc 2016. From the Center for Surgery and Public Health: Departm Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical Schoo TH Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA (Torain Hisam, Lilley, Najjar, Changoor, Rose, Zogg, Haider); the tute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (Dankw tional Institutes of Health (Maddox), Bethesda, MD; Do Health Sciences Medical College, Karachi, Pakistan (Hisa ment of Surgery, Johns Hopkins University School of Medi MD (Kodadek); and the Department of Surgery, Eastern V School, Norfolk, VA (Britt). Correspondence address: Adil H Haider, MD, MPH, FA Surgery and Public Health, 1620 Tremont St, Suite MA 02120. email: ahhaider@partners.org

Keeping clinicians in clinical research: the Clinical Research/Reproductive Scientist Training Program

In recent years the need for translational and clinical research has increased, whereas the number of physicians involved in clinical research has diminished. There is clearly a need for formalized academic training in the quantitative and methodologic principles of clinical research in reproductive medicine. The Clinical Research/Reproductive Scientist Training Program (CREST), a program supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the Clinical Research Training Program (CRTP) at Duke University, and the American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM), meets this existing need. In addition, this program is specifically designed for physicians in private or academic clinical practice in reproductive medicine. Innovative programs such as CREST encourage the practicing physician to engage in clinical research while maintaining an active role in clinical practice. Participants in the program receive didactic on-line training from the CRTP and attend intensive weekend seminars at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as well as CREST seminars at the annual meeting of the ASRM. Successful participants in the program receive a Certificate in Clinical Research from the CRTP. The programs goal is to provide practicing physicians with the tools and research credentials that will facilitate collaborations with investigators involved in large clinical trials.

Embarking on a Science Vision for Health Disparities Research

The author discusses research on health disparities among racial and ethnic minority groups in the U.S. Topics include the influence of the 1985 Heckler Report on the study of health disparities and the establishment of the U.S. National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NMHD), the evolution of health disparities research to include the impact of social, economic, and environmental disadvantage on health, and the impact of childhood experiences on adult brain structure.

DS-Connect: A Promising Tool to Improve Lives and Engage Down Syndrome Communities Worldwide.

Down syndrome (DS) is the most common genetic cause of intellectual and developmental disabilities in the United States with an estimated birth prevalence of 1:691 births; however, worldwide estimates of the number of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including DS, remain speculative. Little is known about the global health impact of DS, such as heart defects, gastrointestinal malformations, and other medical and behavioral issues. Further research is needed to develop the next generation of novel therapies and compounds aimed at improving cognition, reducing dementia, and mitigating other manifestations of DS. To address these challenges, the National Institutes of Health has created the first web-based, voluntary registry and data resource called DS-Connect: The Down Syndrome Registry to collect demographic and health information about individuals with DS.