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Disparities

Disparities in diabetes are experienced on the basis of: race/ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, age-related vulnerabilities across the lifespan, presence of co-morbidities, and geography. Disparities occur, at least in part, due to inadequate capacity building for translating successful diagnostic, preventive, and therapeutic modalities for individuals and communities at greatest risk. The Atlanta metropolitan area has a rich and diverse population of Black, Hispanic, and South Asian minorities, low socioeconomic status, and low-access communities who have the highest burdens of diabetes in the country. Therefore, the overall goal of the GCDTR's Disparities core is to facilitate more combined diabetes-disparities translation research that can identify ways to improve engagement in evidence-based diabetes prevention and management interventions among vulnerable populations, and reduce the disproportionately higher risks of morbidity and mortality from diabetes in these groups. Core D provides methodological expertise, sociocultural competencies, access to populations in community, and clinical settings, and relevant databases, tools, and technologies that help investigators explore the drivers of disparities and avenues to address them.

Co Directors: Tabia Henry Akintobi, PhD, MPH and Arshed Quyyumi, MD 

Core Experts:

Name Institution Title Primary Research Interest(s) Contact
Tené Lewis, PhD Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Associate Professor of Epidemiology Psychosocial epidemiology gcdtr@emory.edu
Priscilla Pemu, MD, MSCR Morehouse School of Medicine Professor and Director of Clinical Trials, Department of Medicine African-American and immigrant heath disparities gcdtr@emory.edu
Herman Taylor, MD Morehouse School of Medicine Professor of Medicine;
Director, Cardiovascular Research Institute		 Cardiovascular disease prevention gcdtr@emory.edu

 

Core Members:

Name Institution Title Primary Research Interest(s) Contact
Liliana Aguayo-Markes, PhD, MPH Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Research Assistant Professor of Global Health Obesity and insulin resistance among Mexican families laguay2@emory.edu
Manoj Bhasin, PhD, MS Emory University School of Medicine Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Biomedical Informatics Immune landscape mapping of chronic diseases manoj.bhasin@emory.edu
Doug Bodner, PhD, PE Georgia Institute of Technology College of Engineering Lecturer and Tennenbaum Institute Principal Research Engineer, School of Industrial & Systems Engineering Networked healthcare systems design doug.bodner@gatech.edu
Saumeth Cardona, MD, MPH Emory University School of Medicine Associate Director of Research Projects, Division of Endocrinology Inpatient diabetes management scardon@emory.edu
Suchi Chandrasekaran, MD Emory University School of Medicine Assistant Professor of Gynecology & Obstetrics, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine Gestational diabetes schan51@emory.edu
Puneet Chehal, PhD Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Assistant Professor of Global Health Access to public health insurance puneet.chehal@emory.edu
Jonathan Colasanti, MD, MSPH Emory University School of Medicine Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases Health disparities in people with HIV jcolasa@emory.edu
Carlos del Rio, MD Emory University School of Medicine Distinguished Professor of Infectious Diseases; Executive Associate Dean for Emory at Grady; Principal Investigator and co-Director of the Emory Center for AIDS Research HIV/AIDS prevention cdelrio@emory.edu
Melissa S. Faulkner, PhD, RN Georgia State University Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing & Health Professions Professor & Lewis Distinguished Chair in Nursing Cardiovascular risks in adolescents with diabetes or obesity mfaulkner@gsu.edu
Maya Fayfman, MD Emory University School of Medicine Assistant Professor of Endocrinology Diabetic foot care, especially in racial minorities maya.fayfman@emory.edu
Erin Ferranti, PhD, MPH, RN Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing Assistant Professor Mitigating cardiometabolic risk burden in women epoe@emory.edu
Jennifer Frediani, PhD, RD Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing Assistant Professor Interaction between lifestyle factors and disease jfredia@emory.edu
Karla Galaviz, PhD Indiana University School of Public Health Assistant Professor Integrating proven health interventions and practices in real-world settings kgalaviz@iu.edu
Amy Webb Girard, PhD Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Associate Professor of Global Health and Epidemiology Maternal/child health and nutrition awebb3@emory.edu
Unjali Gujral, PhD, MPH Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Assistant Professor of Global Health Type 2 diabetes in South Asian populations ugujral@emory.edu
Jessica Harding, PhD Emory University School of Medicine Assistant Professor of Surgery Diabetes and kidney disease complications jlhardi@emory.edu
Saria Hassan, MD Emory University School of Medicine Assistant Professor of Primary Care Precision medicine to address health disparities saria.hassan@emory.edu
J. Sonya Haw, MD Emory University School of Medicine Assistant Professor of Endocrinology Health disparities in diabetes jhaw@emory.edu
Joyce Ho, PhD Emory University College of Arts and Sciences Assistant Professor of Computer Science Machine learning to predict disease risk joyce.c.ho@emory.edu
Noreen Islam, MD Emory University School of Medicine Pediatric Endocrinology Fellow Pediatric comorbidities of diabetes noreen.islam@emory.edu
Ram Jagannathan, PhD Emory University School of Medicine Assistant Professor of Hospital Medicine Mobile applications to prevent diabetes rjagann@emory.edu
Dayna Johnson, PhD, MPH, MSW, MS Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Assistant Professor of Epidemiology Effect of sleep on diabetes control dajohn6@emory.edu
Pinar Keskinocak, PhD Georgia Institute of Technology College of Engineering William W. George Chair and Professor of Industrial & Systems Engineering Infectious disease modeling pinar@isye.gatech.edu
Salimah LaForce, MS Georgia Institute of Technology College of Liberal Arts Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Advanced Communications Policy American Sign Language-accessible diabetes education salimah@cacp.gatech.edu
Dong Li, MD, PhD Emory University School of Medicine Assistant Professor of Hospital Medicine Management of cardiac complications in people with diabetes dong.li2@emory.edu
Carmen Marsit, PhD Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Associate Dean for Research; Professor of Environmental Health Childhood obesity and diabetes risk cmarsit@emory.edu
Scott Moffat, PhD Georgia Institute of Technology College of Sciences Associate Professor of Psychology Behavioral endocrinology scott.moffat@psych.gatech.edu
Andrew Muir, MD Emory University School of Medicine Division Director and Professor of Pediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes Prevention of type 1 diabetes in children abmuir@emory.edu
Igho Ofotokun, MD, MSc Emory University School of Medicine Professor of Infectious Diseases Clinical and translational research on HIV in women iofotok@emory.edu
Andrea Grimes Parker, PhD Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing Associate Professor of Interactive Computing Human-computer interaction and health informatics andrea@cc.gatech.edu
Ruth Parker, MD Emory University School of Medicine Professor and Associate Director of Faculty Development, Division of General Medicine  Health disparities, equity, and literacy rpark01@emory.edu
Shivani Patel, PhD, MPH Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Assistant Professor of Global Health Modifiable risk factors for chronic disease s.a.patel@emory.edu
Rakale Quarells, PhD Morehouse School of Medicine Associate Professor of Community Health & Preventive Medicine Chronic disease risk factor reduction rquarells@msm.edu
Jennifer Rooke, MD, MPH Morehouse School of Medicine Assistant Professor of Community Health & Preventive Medicine Lifestyle behavior changes for chronic diseases jrooke@msm.edu
Marcos C. Schechter, MD Emory University School of Medicine Assistant Professor of Infectious Diseases Diabetic foot disease mcoutin@emory.edu
Stacie Schmidt, MD Emory University School of Medicine Associate Professor of General Medicine & Geriatrics Improving patient self-efficacy and self-management skills srschmi@emory.edu
Amit Shah, MD, MSCR Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Assistant Professor of Epidemiology Bioinformatics in cardiovascular health ajshah3@emory.edu
Sarita Shah, MD, MPH Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Associate Professor of Global Health and Epidemiology Drug-resistant TB and TB/HIV co-infection sarita.shah@emory.edu
Mi-Kyung Song, PhD, RN Emory University Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing Professor Gerontology and palliative care mi-kyung.song@emory.edu
Lisa Staimez, PhD, MPH Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Assistant Professor of Global Health Diabetes pathophysiology lrlevy@emory.edu
Arlene Stecenko, MD Emory University School of Medicine Associate Professor of Pediatrics  Cystic fibrosis in children astecen@emory.edu
Claire Sterk, PhD Emory University Rollins School of Public Health University President Emeritus; Charles Howard Candler Professor of Behavioral, Social, & Health Education Sciences Health disparities in people with addiction and HIV/AIDS ces@emory.edu
Sara Turbow, MD, MPH Emory University School of Medicine Associate Professor of General Medicine and Geriatrics; Associate Professor of Preventive Medicine Diabetes health disparities sara.turbow@emory.edu
Viola Vaccarino, MD, PhD Emory University School of Medicine Professor of Cardiology Cardiovascular disease epidemiology and prevention lvaccar@emory.edu
Lance Waller, PhD Emory University Rollins School of Public Health Professor of Biostatistics & Bioinformatics Statistical methods for disease surveillance lwaller@emory.edu
Peter W.F. Wilson, MD Emory University School of Medicine Professor of Cardiology; Director of Epidemiology and Genomic Medicine, Atlanta VA Medical Center Cardiovascular disease prevention pwwilso@emory.edu
Henry Young, PhD University of Georgia College of Pharmacy Associate Professor of Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy Medication use/adherence and health outcomes hnyoung@uga.edu