Eliminating health disparities through transdisciplinary research, cross-agency collaboration, and public participation

Abstract

Despite efforts to the contrary, disparities in health and health care persist in the United States. To solve this problem, federal agencies representing different disciplines and perspectives are collaborating on a variety of transdisciplinary research initiatives. The most recent of these initiatives was launched in 2006 when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Office of Public Health Research and the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Minority Health brought together federal partners representing a variety of disciplines to form the Federal Collaboration on Health Disparities Research (FCHDR). FCHDR collaborates with a wide variety of federal and nonfederal partners to support and disseminate research that aims to reduce or eliminate disparities in health and health care. Given the complexity involved in eliminating health disparities, there is a need for more transdisciplinary, collaborative research, and facilitating that research is FCHDR's mission.

FIGURE 1

Organizational structure of the Federal Collaboration on Health Disparities Research. Note. HHS = Department of Health and Human Services; NIH = National Institutes of Health; ED = Department of Education.

FIGURE 2

Roles played by the Federal Collaboration on Health Disparities Research in achieving health equity. Note. FCHDR = Federal Collaboration on Health Disparities Research.