UT-San Antonio lands $44 million contract to study health shortfalls in rural South

UTSA’s Kate Marmion School of Public Health has landed a $44 million research project. Credit: Courtesy of UT San Antonio

Chalk up another research win for UT-San Antonio.

The university landed a five-year, $44 million contract from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the National Institutes of Health to study health disparities facing the rural South.

The project will make use of a custom-built, 50-foot mobile examination room equipped with advanced clinical and imaging technology, even including a CT scanner. The vehicle will travel to rural areas to bring research directly study areas while offering comprehensive health assessments to community members.

UTSA officials called the study, which received its funding late last month, one of the nation’s most ambitious efforts to systematically and comprehensively analyze rural health gaps. Researchers are expected to complete the first examination phase and launch a second as they travel through Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi.

The research contract underscores the campus’ growing national leadership in population health, community-engaged research and large-scale scientific collaboration, university officials also said.

“The RURAL Cohort Study takes the science to the people,” Dr. Vasan S. Ramachandran, dean of UTSA’s Kate Marmion School of Public Health and the study’s principal investigator, said in a statement. “This award allows work to continue generating actionable knowledge that can improve prevention, treatment and long-term health outcomes for rural populations that have too often been overlooked in scientific studies.”

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Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current. He holds degrees from Trinity University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, and his work has been featured in Salon, Alternet, Creative… More by Sanford Nowlin

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