Meharry approved for $1.4 million PCORI research award for diabetes study

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) awarded $1.4 million to Meharry Medical College toward a study of motivational treatment strategies for African-American women with Type 2 diabetes living in the Southeastern U.S.

According to the PCORI website, the funding is part of a $25 million allocation to fund 10 new studies examining effective ways to treat “a range of health conditions that impose high burdens on patients, their families and the health care system.” The Meharry project “compares the addition of a culturally tailored counseling strategy known as motivational interviewing to medical nutritional therapy to see if it is more effective than medical nutritional therapy alone in improving diabetes-related outcomes among African-American women in the southeastern United States.”

Principal Investigator Stephania T. Miller-Hughes, Ph.D., MS, MSCI, associate professor in Meharry School of Medicine Department of Surgery, said the funding “will allow me to collaborate with many others in addressing the diabetes burden experienced by African-American women.” Others on the local team include Ms. Neely Williams at Community Partners’ Network, Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center, Drs. Sylvie Akohoue, Millard Collins and Mohammed Tabatabai from Meharry, Dr. Velma McBride Murry from Vanderbilt University and African-American women with Type 2 diabetes. The Black Women’s Health Imperative will serve as a national partner in efforts to disseminate study information and results locally and nationally, Dr. Miller-Hughes said.

CLICK HERE for details of the study.

CLICK HERE to see the PCORI announcement.