VCUCenter on Health Disparities
The Office of the Vice President for Health Sciences, acting in response to emerging evidence of health care disparities at the local, State and National level (as an example the 2002 Institute of Medicine Report “Unequal Treatment”) acted in 2004 to establish a VCU Center on Health Disparities. The Center serves as a coordinating body to enhance a diverse and culturally aware environment in the VCU Health System with key goals of supporting the identification and elimination of disparities through research, education of the health system community and the public and, most critically, enhancing the diversity of the VCU community by working to increase the number of representatives of underrepresented minority groups in the VCU faculty, student and staff. This includes and spans both academic programs and health care delivery organizations.
The Center concept is recognized as key initiative to catalyze the coordination of the range of existing offices and initiatives which have a long history of working to promote the diversity of the VCU trainee population including the Health Careers Opportunity Program (HCOP), the Virginia Statewide Area Health Education Center (AHEC), the MCV Campus Student Academic Support Services, the Monroe Park Campus Pre-Professional Programs Advising Office (which spans all health sciences areas) and the academic units on the MCV Campus (which is the base of the VCU Health System) and includes the School of Medicine, School of Dentistry, School of Nursing, School of Allied Health Professions and the School of Nursing.
Additionally, the Center brings together key institutional offices identified as stakeholders in this key area including the VCU Office of Diversity(based in the Office of the Provost), Human Resources Offices of the University and the Health Systems, key departments in the College of Humanities and Sciences (e.g. Chemistry, Biology, Psychology) and the School of Social Work.
The Center is additionally working to establish a body to provide a formal partnering with the community, including the formation of a consortium of VCU, the area HBCU institutions and the regional members of the Community College system of Virginia. The Center initiated a program to facilitate the placement of faculty and students from these minority-serving institutions into research placements in VCU School of Medicine research laboratories to complement and coordinate existing activities thereby enhancing the efforts of individuals and academic recruitment..
Creation of the Center and the commitment of institutional resources in this effort provides a mechanism to more comprehensively address the “pipeline” issue, foster the enhanced awareness of and mutual links to involved individual and groups and establish an identified and visible statement of institutional purpose which will also assist in planning for new programs and resources.
VCU Center on Health Disparities G Sum.doc