Celebrating Community-Based Research Grants on Dec. 8

The Tufts community is invited to join faculty, administrators and local community partners next week to celebrate the awarding of two major grants from the National Institutes of Health for community-based participatory research.

Co-hosted by the provost and vice provost, the deans of the Friedman School, Medical School, School of Engineering, and Tisch College, and Tufts’ director of community relations, the reception will be held Monday, Dec. 8, from 4 to 6 p.m. on Tufts Medford campus. Please RSVP to emailing to Erin Madden at erin.madden@tufts.edu.

The two grants, totaling $5 million over five years, awarded this fall, will assess the health risks of communities living near major highways, and study and develop interventions to reduce weight gain among recent immigrants.

Both grants, awarded this fall, were supported by seed funding from the Tufts Community Research Center (TCRC), a project of Tisch College, which fosters Tufts faculty and student research in collaboration with community partners.

“Receiving funding on this scale signals that the potential of community-based participatory research is comparable to that of traditional research,” noted Tufts Provost Jamshed Bharucha. “Both projects promise to yield impressive new knowledge and also significant benefits to Tufts host communities.”

Alex Pirie, coordinator with Immigrant Service Providers Group/Health in Somerville, who will be working with other community groups on the obesity study, said he and his colleagues look forward to the project: “There were a lot of positive, measurable results from the Shape Up Somerville program. The more we can educate people about obesity, the better.”

Ellin Reisner, president of the Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership, noted that community-based participatory research appeals to the community because it can provide groups like hers with scientific data they need in their advocacy work.

“Scientists can’t be policy makers,” she said, “but community people can advocate and can use this type of research to make their case.”

Faculty participants on the obesity research include Christina Economos, Friedman School (Principal Investigator); Raymond Hyatt, Tufts Medical School (Co-Investigator); Aviva Must, Tufts Medical School (Co-Investigator); David Gute, School of Engineering (Co-Investigator); and Elizabeth Goodman, Tufts Medical Center (Consultant).

Community partners working on the same project include Alex Pirie, Immigrant Service Providers Group/Health (co-investigator); Franklin Dalembert, Haitian Coalition; Warren Goldstein-Gelb, The Welcome Project; Dennis Fischman, Community Action Agency of Somerville (CAAS); Ismael Vasquez, CAAS; Melissa McWhinney, CAAS; Heloisa Galvão and Monica Chianelli, Brazilian Women's Group.

Faculty participants on the highway research include Doug Brugge, Tufts Medical School (Principal Investigator); John Durant, School of Engineering; and Mkaya Mwamburi, Tufts Medical School.

Community partners include Wig Zamore and Ellin Reisner, Somerville Transportation Equity Partnership; Amy Leung, Chinese Progressive Association; Baolian Kuang, Chinatown Residents Association; Bart Laws, Latin American Health Institute; Edna Rivera-Carrasco, Committee for Boston Public Housing.

About the Grants
The goal of the highway study is to determine if living near heavily traveled highways poses a health risk, and, if so, how much of a risk. It will be one of the first studies to test associations between highway pollution gradients and biological markers of health and the first community-based participatory research study of highway pollution. It is also expected to generate a comprehensive collection of data on the exposed populations. Read more about the Community Assessment of Freeway Exposure and Health

Among other goals, the obesity study intends to develop interventions to reduce weight gain among recent immigrants. It also aims to demonstrate the feasibility of partnering with the immigrant community in Somerville—to conduct the study and to disseminate results to help strengthen community resources and improve preventive health care and education for immigrants. If the project succeeds, it could serve as a model for use with similar at-risk populations across the country. Read more about Assessing and Preventing Obesity Among New Immigrants