ABSTRACT – OVERALL
The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) proposes to develop and implement the “UTEP Center for Investigator
Training and Community Engagement in Transdisciplinary Minority Health Disparities Research,” to provide a
specialized community-engaged research training program whereby academic and community partnerships will
jointly participate in the design and implementation of collaborative research projects aimed at eliminating health
disparities in the Paso del Norte region. El Paso, Texas, located on the U.S.-Mexico border is a medically
underserved area with a predominantly Hispanic population. A large majority of the population in El Paso, Texas
has an income below the national average, speak a language other than English at home, and faces multiple
health conditions including overweight, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer among many others. The University of
Texas at El Paso, providing higher education to a large majority of populations in the Paso Del Norte region is
committed to improve the economic landscape and the health of the community by instituting equitable academic-
community partnerships to develop interventions based in community-based health research results. The
proposed Center of Excellence (COE) builds on UTEP’s strong foundation of demonstrated commitment for
community-engaged scholarship, a strong record of intellectual community-engaged capacity and robust support
from community-based organizations. The COE includes three cores that are intimately integrated and
synchronized to provide training, mentoring, dissemination, and translation of research to inform health policy.
The conceptual framework of the COE includes a syndemics model/approach, interdisciplinary and
transdisciplinary approach to train investigators and community partners and leverages a long-existing institutional
community-engaged culture and networks. A team of scholars will develop a pilot project program and community
engaged mentoring to develop community-engaged pilot projects, institute active coaching for grant writing for
early career investigators and community members, mentoring workshops for investigators at all career levels,
and community engaged transdisciplinary/interdisciplinary minority (Hispanic) health disparities research. The
proposed syndemics approach will help develop equitable academic-community partnerships that will understand
the interconnectivity of social determinants of health and morbidities affecting the region’s population. This new
knowledge augmented by a specialized community-engaged research training will provide UTEP investigators
and community collaborators with the basis for the design of culturally relevant, cutting-edge, effective, and
sustainable interventions. UTEP’s COE is committed to work with UTEP institutional units (e.g., Center for
Community Engagement, Community Engagement Leadership Program), other resources, and with healthcare-
engaged community partners to increase and sustain a network of academic-community partnerships and a
critical mass of investigators who conduct community-engaged Health disparities research now, and in the future.
