Abstract Described by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as ?serious, common, and costly?, obesity is now considered a disease by the medical community and has been consistently and causally linked with numerous chronic diseases. Although obesity is the result of numerous contributing factors, poverty and environmental factors present barriers to accessing affordable healthy foods and predispose to food insecurity. Further, obesity and food insecurity emanate from a shared food system and are disproportionately experienced by racial/ethnic minority populations. The Myrlie Evers-Williams Institute for the Elimination of Health Disparities (MEWI) proposes to partner with the HBCU PRIDE (Programs to Increase Diversity Among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research) research training and mentoring center to sponsor a conference entitled, ?A Disparities Paradox? Food Insecurity and Obesity Among Vulnerable Populations? in July 2017 in Jackson, Mississippi. The two- day conference will include 80-100 attendees. The proposed conference will focus on understanding the relationship between food insecurity and obesity over the life course. We propose to use grant funds for conference planning and implementation, the publication of conference proceedings, and to provide support for early career faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and students attending conference (resources will not be used to support travel for fellows with active funding from HBCU PRIDE). The specific aims of the proposed conference are to: Aim 1: Connect obesity health disparity researchers and community-based organizations to develop complementary solutions addressing obesity and food insecurity among vulnerable populations that can be evaluated in future research studies. Aim 2: Cultivate and facilitate the formation of working groups to develop and evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of interdisciplinary approaches to reducing food insecurity and obesity among vulnerable populations. Aim 3: Expand and enhance the research networks of early career faculty and students (undergraduate and graduate) who are underrepresented in biomedical and behavioral sciences, and increase their exposure to cutting-edge research on obesity health disparities and food insecurity. The overarching goals of the conference are to facilitate interactions among obesity health disparity researchers and community-based organizations addressing hunger to meet the growing health challenges resulting from food insecurity that predominately affect low-income communities, and to expose early career faculty and students underrepresented in biomedical sciences to this important area of research.

R13MD011374

2016-09-27

2018-09-25