All of Us Research Program
Until recently, much of the biomedical research in Western countries has been historically conducted on white men. This has been revealed to be a problem, because in health care, one size does not always fit all. Treatments meant for the “average” patient may not work well for individual people, especially if those people are women or racial or ethnic minorities. To help advance the new field of precision medicine, which takes into account each patient’s environment (where they live), lifestyle (what they do), and their family health history and genetic makeup, CSEA is proud to partner with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Asian Health Coalition/the Asian Engagement and Recruitment Core (ARC) on the “All of Us” Research Program – the largest research undertaking ever funded by the NIH. The research program seeks to collect longitudinal health data from a million people of all races and ethnicities throughout the United States with the goal of developing new individualized treatments for preventing and curing disease. According to the NIH, the information shared by participants is already “fueling thousands of studies to better understand health and disease and enable more tailored and equitable approaches to care.”
Contact:
Lisa DaPonte, Director of Programs | [email protected] | (401) 274-8811
Program Staff: Fanta Phannavong & Molyneat Kosal
Brown SEA Dietary Study: Southeast Asian Healthy Habits Healthy Kids (SEAHK)
Poor diet quality is a significant problem for Southeast Asian (particularly Hmong, Cambodian, Laotian, and Vietnamese) children whose families came to the US as refugees. These children are disproportionately burdened by higher rates of obesity and increased risk of other diet-related chronic diseases like Type 2 Diabetes relative to other Asian subgroups, Whites, and other races. This study is engaging 25 Southeast Asian families with children aged 6-11 to develop intervention strategies to improve children’s diet and lower indicators of Type 2 diabetes. The research team expects to release preliminary findings in 2025.
Contact:
Lisa DaPonte, Director of Programs | [email protected] | (401) 274-8811 x248
Diabetes Prevention Study
In 2016, CSEA partnered with Khmer Health Advocate in West Hartford, CT and the University of Connecticut Health in Farmington, Connecticut, on a diabetes prevention study. The DREAM study was funded through a 5-year research grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate innovative strategies to prevent diabetes among Cambodian Americans.
More specifically, the study tested additive effects of two proven health interventions – lifestyle modification and medication therapy management – on lifestyle risk factors and biological risk markers for diabetes in persons with elevated depressive symptoms. These interventions had been shown to be successful individually, but their combined effects had never been studied and they had not been tested for diabetes prevention. As part of this study, treatments were delivered via an innovative model, which employs interdisciplinary, multicultural teams of professionals and community health workers using telemedicine to access hard-to-reach patients. The model was specifically designed for patients with mental illness and associated impaired functioning whose care is challenged by distance, disability, as well as language and culture barriers. The summary of main findings can be accessed here.
SEA-DATA Research Project
Southeast Asian Data and Trends Analysis (SEA DATA) was our first major research undertaking. It was designed as a comprehensive data collection and analysis initiative of the Center for Southeast Asians (CSEA) in partnership with Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF). The overall goal of the SEA DATA project was to create a trusted source of information on Southeast Asians (SEAs) living in Rhode Island to guide community development, inform policy decisions at local and state levels, and enable government agencies, nonprofits, and businesses to allocate resources where they are most needed.
In 2013, the SEA DATA project culminated in an issue brief on the health status of SEAs in Rhode Island and the expected impact of the Affordable Care Act on this community. In the following year, a Facts and Community Trends Report (FACTs) was released to highlight key demographic data as well as the main socioeconomic issues affecting the SEA community in Rhode Island.