Health Disparities Grants Funded by National Institute on Aging: Trends Between 2000 and 2010

Since President Clinton’s health disparities initiative launched in 1998 (Brooks, 1998), there have been significant efforts to close the gaps in health status and health care between racial/ethnic minority and nonminority groups. Given that reducing or eliminating health disparities has been our nation’s priority during the past decade (Smedley, Stith, & Nelson, 2003; Williams, 2007), federal funding agencies such as National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have made special efforts to fund programs addressing ways to reduce or eliminate health disparities. The National Institute on Aging (NIA, 2010) has also focused on supporting aging researchers, centers, and institutions that can benefit from funding for health disparities–related programs. Given these trends and efforts to address disparities in minority health and health care, the present study examines how the NIA has funded health disparities grants during the past decade to understand how these global policies have had practical effects on aging research. The NIA’s (2010) emphasis on funding health disparities programs is reflected in their strategic plan goals. Among the six current strategic plan research goals (A–F) that were stated in the NIA’s (2010) Strategic Plan on Health Disparities, Goal E specifically addresses the NIA’s current effort to fund health disparities programs: “Improve our ability to reduce health disparities and eliminate health inequalities among older adults.” Under this goal, the NIA (2007) stated three specific objectives: (a) understand health differences and health inequities among older adults; (b) develop strategies to promote active life expectancy and improve the health status of older adults in minority and other underserved populations; and (c) use research insights and advances to inform policy on the health, economic status, and quality of life of all older adults. In recent years, the NIA has participated in numerous program announcements with regard to aging and health disparities, reflecting the institute’s strong efforts to support research projects or centers that can address that issue. Some examples of such funding opportunity announcements include (a) Behavioral and Social Science Research on Understanding and Reducing Health Disparities (R01; PAR-10-136, PAR-07-379; R21; PAR-10-137, PAR-07-380); (b) Promoting Careers in Aging and Health Disparities Research (K01; RFA-AG-06-008, PAR-08-033, PAR-09-136); and (c) Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR) and Coordinating Center (P30; RFA-AG-02-004, RFA-AG-07-005, RFA-AG-12-012; see http://www.nia.nih.gov/research/dea/research-support). A relatively large portion of the minority aging research programs at NIA has been sponsored by the Behavioral and Social Science Program (BSR). One of the most significant funding mechanisms is the RCMAR, which supports centers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (Deep South RCMAR); University of California, Los Angeles (Center for Health Improvement for Minority Elders); University California, San Francisco (Center for Aging in Diverse Communities); University of Colorado Denver (Native Elder Research Center); University of Michigan/Wayne State University (Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research); and University of Pennsylvania (PENN MARCH). The primary missions of these RCMARs are to reduce disparities in the research workforce and to decrease health disparities among diverse older adults (The Evaluation Advisory Panel and Carlyn Consulting, 2008) by (a) increasing the number of researchers who focus on the health of minority elders, (b) enhancing the diversity in the professional workforce by mentoring minority academic researchers for careers in minority elders health research, (c) improving recruitment and retention methods used to enlist minority elders in research studies, (d) creating culturally sensitive health measures that assess the health status of minority elders with greater precision, and (e) increasing the effectiveness of interventions designed to improve their health and well-being (see http://www.rcmar.ucla.edu/mission.php). As research on health disparities in later life continues to expand, it will be helpful to examine characteristics of NIA-funded health disparities grants and to use this information as a means of identifying areas of continuing need. Therefore, the objectives of the present study are (a) to examine trends in NIA funding of health disparities grants from 2000 to 2010 and (b) to identify moderators of the 11-year funding trends. To accomplish these objectives, data available on the NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools Expenditures and Results (RePORTER) webpage were first collected and then merged with institutional data from the Carnegie Classification System. Findings from the present study will be a valuable resource for many gerontologists who are seeking grants for research related to health disparities.