BUILD PODER and HERE Center Faculty win grants and strengthen community research
November 30, 2022
BUILD PODER and HERE Center Faculty win grants and strengthen community research
With a wide range of different research foci centered on addressing health disparities in the San Fernando Valley, faculty member of Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD) Promoting Opportunities for Diversity in Education and Research (PODER) and the Health Equity Research and Education (HERE) Center serve as models for how research can support social justice ideals and local outcomes.
Over the past two years, they have been awarded grants to fund their health equity-related projects and share their research expertise with the community.
NIH IPERT EMBARC
Dr. Shu-Sha Angie Guan
Department of Child and
Adolescent Development
Dr. Yolanda Vasquez-Salgado
Department of Psychology
Dr. Cindy Malone
Department of Biology
Dr. Carrie Saetermoe
Department of Psychology
Founder of the HERE Center
Dr. Shu-Sha Angie Guan from the Department of Child and Adolescent Development, Dr. Yolanda Vasquez-Salgado from the Department of Psychology, Dr. Cindy Malone from the Department of Biology and Dr. Carrie Saetermoe, founder of the HERE Center, received $2.21M from the National Institutes of Health for “Educational Modules to Broaden Research Cultures” (EMBARC) last August 2022.
EMBARC’s goal is to invite, retain and support community college students from diverse backgrounds in the biobehavioral sciences by leveraging Cultural Mismatch Theory (CMT)in the development of educational modules.
This will be tested in partnership with the Los Angeles Community College District and California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office and distributed nationwide among some of the largest professional organizations in biobehavioral sciences such as the American Psychological Association.
The team includes female, first-generation college students.
“We are grateful for the support and mentorship that we have received,” Guan said. “We look forward to encouraging a new generation ofbiobehavioral scientists.”
NIH R16 SuRE-First
Dr.Yolanda Vasquez-Salgado
Department of Psychology
Vasquez-Salgado received an NIH SuRE-First Award of $725,000 to conduct a multi-site longitudinal project of Latinx college students’ experiences with cultural mismatch (CM) during the transition to college.
The 4-year project (2022-2026) will describe the trajectories of Latinx students’ experiences with CM and their pattern of associations with health (mental, physical) and academic outcomes. The project will also examine the role of education context and resilience in these associations.
The findings will be shared with participating institutions as well as all Hispanic Serving Institutions in the nation via her partnership with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU).
Her findings could affect how colleges and universities across the country meet the needs of an increasingly diverse and often first-generation college student population.
“I am grateful for the support from my mentors, Drs. Sandra Graham and Teresa Seeman, on this project, as well as the immense support from the various mentors that have guided her over the years,” Vasquez-Salgado said.
NIH RADx U01 SEA US, HEAR US
Dr. Patchareeya Kwan
Department of Health Sciences
Dr. Patchareeya Kwan’s research project, SEA US, HEAR US, was funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) from 2022-23 as part of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx®) initiative designed to speed innovation in the development, commercialization, and implementation of technologies for COVID-19 testing.
Kwan is a member of the Department of Health Sciences and is one of the directors of the HERE Center.
Housed at CSUN, the goal of SEA US, HEAR US, “Southeast Asians in the U.S.: Health Equity And Research to Understand COVID-19 Stories”, is to understand and address multi-level social, ethical, and behavioral implications of COVID-19 testing, vaccination, and its sequelae among Cambodians, Filipinos, Thais, and Vietnamese Americans in the Greater Los Angeles area through a community-based, mixed-methods approach.
Kwan and her team said they are very proud to be given this opportunity to work with various community-based organizations and join a consortium of distinguished researchers representing prestigious academic institutions, health care settings, and community-based groups.
NIH R16 SuRE-First
Dr. Jonathan Martinez
Department of Psychology
Dr. Jonathan Martinez, in collaboration with Santa Barbara County Department of Behavioral Wellness, received a 4-year $725,000 NIH R16 SuRE-First Award.
Martinez is a member of the Department of Psychology and a HERE Center Faculty Partner.
The grant, mentored by Saetermoe, has a goal of achieving health equity for underserved families by co-developing an evidence-based, culturally responsive Psychoeducation Toolkit with community stakeholders and Our House Productions.
The toolkit will assist providers in increasing mental health literacy, reducing stigma, and enhancing help-seeking for underserved families navigating the mental healthcare system.
NIH R16 SuRE-First
Dr. Jimmy Xie
Department of Recreation and Tourism Management
Dr. Jimmy Xiewas also awarded the NIH SuRE-First grant in July 2022. This was to fund his four-year study, “Senior Centers and Older Adults’ Health Outcomes.”
Xie is from the Department of Recreation and Tourism Management and a HERE Center Faculty Partner.
The study aims to examine how physical/social environment and activity participation at senior centers affect older adults’ health and well-being. Collaborators include Dr. Deborah Cohen and Dr. Bing Han from Southern California Kaiser Permanente.
NIH R16 SuRE-First
Dr. Claudia Toledo-Corral
Department of Health Sciences
Dr. Claudia Toledo-Corral from the Department of Health Sciences was awarded the NIH SuRE-First grant of $738,000 in August 2022. This grant will be used to fund her project, “Allostatic Load in Latino Youth (ALLY) study: The Role of Discrimination and Environmental Racism.”
Toledo-Corral is a cluster faculty member of the HERE Center.
The study aims to characterize allostatic load in a population of young adult who identify as Latino/a/x and to examine how perceived discrimination and living in environmentally hazardous regions may influence allostatic load.
In this effort, the team is working in collaboration with Dr. Marc Weigensberg, Professor of Pediatrics at the USC Keck School of Medicine.
Department of Defense AWARE Project
Dr. Thomas Chan
Department of Psychology
Dr. Kacie Blackman
Department of Health Sciences
Dr. Thomas Chan from the Department of Psychology and Dr. Kacie Blackman from the Department of Health Sciences were awarded $519,600 from the Department of Defense to fund the AWARE Project, or the “Arming Wearable Augmented Reality Equipment to Strengthen Psychological Reserves and Resilience” Project.
Chan and Blackman are both cluster faculty members of the HERE Center.
For the past two years, researchers at CSUN demonstrated that augmented reality (AR) headsets could help build mental functioning and social connectedness. This research is especially relevant to the U.S. Army as 10-30% of soldiers who experience battle suffer from mental impairments, notably, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The AWARE Project’s goal is to increase CSUN’s AR research infrastructure by six-fold by purchasing Hololens and related spatial computing equipment to involve more students, faculty, and community partners.
Grants for Black Infant and Maternal Health Research Projects
Dr. Kacie Blackman
Department of Health Sciences
Blackman was also awarded several other grants and funding for her projects.
She was awarded the Charles R. Drew University Black Maternal Health Center of Excellence Biddy Mason Fellowship. This will be used to fund her project, “Technology and Breast Milk,” where she serves as the principal investigator.
Blackman is also principal investigator the following projects, all of which have been awarded grants: “Augmenting Milk Output Realities” and “Thriving While Black: Black Birth Equity Workers Glowing.”
Additionally, she was also an evaluator for the following grant-funded projects: “Black Mamas Glowing -Pregnancy Peer Support Experience,” “Pilot to Support Black Maternal Health Community Mentors” and “Improving Perinatal Mental Health Outcomes Amongst Pregnant and Postpartum Black Women Project.”
Improving motor learning and rehabilitation via experimental bidirectional dynamic human-virtual reality interaction system
Dr. Thomas Chan
Department of Psychology
Chan was also awarded $788,192 to fund his project, “Improving motor learning and rehabilitation via experimental bidirectional dynamic human-virtual reality interaction system.”
The project’s goal is to determine the feasibility of adaptive virtual environments to drive learning and real-world transfer of two rehabilitative skills: 1) a locomotor obstacle negotiation task and 2) a custom-designed forearm and hand prosthesis control task.
The HERE Center’s Research Outlook
Saetermoe is excited to see these projects come to fruition. She is deeply proud of the scholars who have been funded at CSUN with the support of a rich community and the generosity of the NIH and the resulting grants that create a ripple effect for student, faculty, and community collaborations that make a real-world difference locally.
Each of the scholars has benefited from NIH programs that supported their topical interests, research skills, grant-writing, and community-building. More than that, the HERE Center strives to include scholars who are traditionally underfunded or whose work is marginalized in favor of “hard” and typically more basic sciences.
“As founder of the HERE Center, I hope that the university can see that excellence in research exists throughout our campus, that we have fully-funded scholars conducting top-notch research in CHHD and CSBS, and are ready to make change,” Saetermoe said.