Improving health outcomes
and quality of life for people living with type 2 diabetes are the goals of a
project between a new research center at the University
of Michigan and university, health,
and public officials in North
Carolina.
The Center for Geospatial
Medicine, which recently moved from Duke
University to U-M’s School of Natural Resources
and Environment, is a partner in a $6.2 million grant announced by the
Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation as part of its national diabetes initiative,
Together on Diabetes. The project’s other partners are the Duke University
Medical Center
and the Durham County Health Department. The project will focus on residents of
North Carolina’s Durham County,
home to Duke.
“The Center for
Geospatial Medicine will be developing geospatial informatics tools to improve
the design and delivery of treatment approaches for persons with T2DM. We are
grateful to the Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation for its belief in our
work,” says Marie Lynn Miranda, the center’s director and a professor at
the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment.
Miranda joined SNRE from
Duke, where she founded the center and remains an adjunct professor. Miranda
becomes dean of SNRE on Jan. 1, 2012.
“Attacking a complex
problem like diabetes requires a committed team, resources, community
engagement and alignment of health care and societal forces,” says Robert
Califf, vice chancellor for clinical research at Duke and leader of the
steering committee for the Durham Diabetes Coalition. “We’re excited by
this chance to build on the vibrant relationships that already exist among
Duke, the Durham
health department and other community stakeholders.
“Together, and with
the support of the BMS Foundation, we will provide patients with diabetes and
their health care providers with the tools they need to effectively manage
their conditions and help them overcome barriers to better health.”
“Changing the course
of the nation’s diabetes epidemic requires radically new thinking and
intensified collaborative action,” says Patricia Doykos, director of the
Bristol-Myers Squibb Foundation. “The project is bringing both to
everything from how to account for the diverse drivers of diabetes burden to
who can play a role to what to do and how to measure whether it is making a
positive impact at the population level.”
During the planning phase,
the coalition is employing a technology called geospatial mapping, which takes
information related to disease and health care and fits it to the physical map
of a community, allowing researchers to visualize complex relationships among
the locations of diabetes patients, patterns of health care and available
social resources.
This information is also
being used to explore gaps in access to care and self-management resources;
help patients connect with the community assets; and identify interventions
that can result in better health outcomes, both for the individual and the
neighborhood as a whole. Geospatial data will also be used to create a
continuous feedback loop for improving the quality of project efforts.
Diabetes affects nearly
25.8 million Americans, or 8.3% of the country’s population.
“One source estimates
more than 10% of Durham
County residents have
been diagnosed with diabetes and at least another 2% remain undiagnosed,”
says Gayle Harris, director of the Durham County Health Department.
“Diabetes is a significant risk factor for heart disease, stroke, kidney
failure and cancer, which is the leading causes of death in Durham. Only through community interventions
like the Durham Diabetes Coalition can we really change the trends in new cases
of diabetes and improve the care of persons with diabetes.”
The Durham Diabetes
Coalition will employ a Diabetes Intelligence Officer, who is responsible for
designing and implementing communication programs to provide relevant health
and lifestyle information to the community. The DIO also will develop community
messages and support programs to motivate residents to participate in lifestyle
initiatives as a group.
“We want this program
to integrate health care all the way from the household and neighborhood to
specialty clinics in order to provide people with the necessary tools to improve
their outcomes,” Califf says. “We hope that Durham and the Diabetes Coalition will serve
as a model for similar diabetes management control interventions in communities
across the country.”
The mission of the Center
for Geospatial Medicine is to develop systematic, spatially based methods for
analyzing the pathways through which the environment, genetic, and psychosocial
domains jointly shape health and well-being.
