Partnership between a historically black college and a community health and wellness center to engage African American men in community participatory research and the development of biomarkers of diabetic nephropathy

Abstract

African American communities disproportionately bear the burden of complications of diabetes. Early intervention can significantly improve the prognosis. Progress in overcoming disparities has been partially impaired by mistrust between the African American community and researchers. For this reason, minority men are often underrepresented in biomedical research studies that serve as the basis for the development of biomarkers for diagnosis and therapeutics. Overcoming this disparity calls for the development of culturally sensitive approaches that leverage partnerships with health care providers in minority serving clinics. A unique level of trust exists between African American communities and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). HBCU's are thus in a unique position to develop partnerships with clinical researchers to increase participation of African American men in research to promote healthy living and develop biomarkers for diseases that disproportionately affect their communities. In the current study, North Carolina A&T State University, one of the largest HBCU's in North Carolina, has partnered with the Cone Health Community Health and Wellness Center to build infrastructure to engage African American men in community participatory research. The research is designed to: (i) empower African American men to prevent and/or manage diabetes in order to prevent progression to complications, such as diabetic nephropathy and (ii) to increase collection of biological samples from African American men for biomarker development. Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the most common complication of diabetes and is the leading cause of end stage renal disease. With the rising incidences of obesity, diabetes is becoming an epidemic in the African American community. While efforts are being made to develop biomarkers for early diagnosis of DN, participation of African American men in these studies has been minimal. By partnering with a community clinic that serves uninsured and underinsured patients, many of whom are from minority ethnic groups, we were able to engage diabetic African American men in biomedical research and collect biological samples for development of biomarkers of diabetic nephropathy. These samples will be subjected to proteomic and metabolomics analysis to identify biomarkers of diabetic nephropathy representative of the African American male population.Support or Funding InformationNIH/NIHMD #U54MD008621 Sub‐Award # HU‐14004NIH/NIHMD U54MD008621 Sub‐Award # HU‐150006