Igniting Hope in Buffalo NY Communities: Training the Next Generation of Public Health Researchers - Buffalo, NY, the second largest city in New York State (population 276,807), located in Erie County (population 950,683) is one of the poorest cities in the US (31% in poverty). One of the most pressing problems in metropolitan Buffalo is adverse health outcomes in urban neighborhoods, a condition shared with many American metropolitan areas. The life expectancy of people who reside in Buffalo neighborhoods live 10 to 12 years shorter and are 300% more likely to have chronic, often preventable, diseases compared to those who live in well-resourced neighborhoods. In response to this crisis, in 2014, a group of visionary community leaders created a Task Force, which includes leaders and stakeholders from multiple sectors of the Buffalo community, including community leaders, community non-profits, healthcare providers, payers, University at Buffalo (UB) faculty, representatives from the Erie County Department of Health and more. The Task Force has met monthly since 2015. Leaders of organizations that represent a broad range of community stakeholders continue to meet monthly as part of the Task Force. This community-university-government partnership has enormous reach and influence throughout the community, positioning us to disseminate research findings and work with policy makers and community stakeholders to promote sustainable improvements in public health and health outcomes. The mission of our NIMHD Center of Excellence in Investigator Development and Community Engagement is to train and develop the next generation of investigators to perform innovative research in partnership with our community and to the benefit of the community. The Center of Excellence will include faculty from all 12 UB schools, creating a transdisciplinary framework that cuts across scientific and organizational silos to integrate disciplines to address the full range of public health issues and to mentor early-career investigators in research in improving health outcomes. Our Center of Excellence will inspire, train, and mentor a new generation of scientists from multiple disciplines to perform innovative research and advance their careers (Aim 1). We will nurture our enduring community university partnerships to perform transdisciplinary research to develop and test innovative solutions to improve health outcomes in Buffalo and the region (Aim 2). Finally, we will advance collaborations with community partners to translate our research into sustainable, community changes toward improving health in Buffalo communities (Aim 3). Our enduring community-university-government partnership is a strong foundation for an NIMHD Center of Excellence, an exceptional advance in our environment to trainand mentor a new generation of researchers to perform research that will create sustained improvements in health outcomes in communities in Buffalo and the nation.
