In September, J. Mick Tilford, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management (HPM) at the UAMS Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health, and Michael Preston, Ph.D., from the UAMS Cancer Control Outreach Center and a recent graduate of the Ph.D. program in Health Systems and Services Research at UAMS, co-presented research findings on racial disparities to two different groups in Arkansas.
On Sept. 9, Drs. Tilford and Preston presented at the Delta Leadership Institute’s Leadership Network meeting, sponsored by the Delta Regional Authority where they discussed the economic cost of health disparities and interventions to reduce disparities. The Delta Regional Authority is a federal-state partnership that is congressionally mandated to help create jobs, build communities, and improve lives in 252 counties and parishes in the eight states of the Delta region. Through the Rural Communities Advancement Program, the DRA has provided leadership development to more than 350 community leaders over nine years and strengthened regional collaboration with its Delta Leadership Institute. The Delta Leadership Institute is a cooperative effort between the University of Mississippi, Arkansas State University-Jonesboro and the University of Louisiana at Monroe.
Drs. Tilford and Preston also presented Sept. 18 at Public Health Grand Rounds at the Arkansas Department of Health where again Dr. Tilford presented findings on the economic cost of disparities in Arkansas, and Dr. Preston presented research on policy analysis of interventions to reduce disparities. The Arkansas Department of Health, the Fay Boozman College of Public Health at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, and the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement jointly sponsor Public Health Grand Rounds.
On Sept. 25, Dr. Tilford and Sharla Smith, Ph.D., Instructor in HPM and a recent graduate of the Ph.D. program in Health Systems and Services Research at UAMS, presented findings to the Public Health Committees of the Arkansas State Legislature concerning their report on the economic cost of disparities in Arkansas. The Arkansas Minority Health Commission funded the study that was also co-authored by Chenghui Li, Ph.D., in the College of Pharmacy.