On December 7th, we celebrated the winners of PAGNY’s Annual Research Day, acknowledging the work of our innovative researchers and physicians. These awards embody PAGNY’s promotion of excellence in research, and they reflect PAGNY’s recent history of collaboration and interdisciplinary studies across institutions geared towards the common good.
COMMUNITY Center
This year, PAGNY united with a multi-institutional group in NYC to establish the COMMUNITY Center. Funded by a grant from the National Institute for Minority Health Disparities (NIMHD), work at the Center tackles persistent inequities in health care for patients suffering from chronic diseases. Researchers and physicians from PAGNY, Hunter College, Columbia University, and other New York institutions collaborate on community-based models, societal approaches, and rigorous clinical trials to address the root causes of health disparities in communities around NYC.
Successful COMMUNITY Center studies so far have included a randomized intervention trial for colorectal cancer screening in Harlem, a randomized clinical trial studying cardiovascular risk within breast cancer survivors, and sleep intervention research focused on the LatinX population in Washington Heights. Two publications from the COMMUNITY Center work can be found here and here.
IGNITE Grant
PAGNY—in collaboration with Hunter College, CUNY—also recently received a 5-year IGNITE grant from the National Institute of Health. The goal of the IGNITE (Interdisciplinary Guided Network for Investigation, Translation, and Equity) grant is to increase the prominence of historically underrepresented groups in biomedical research.
Recipients of the IGNITE grant are given funding to conduct research and create projects that improve community health care. Dr. Vidya Menon, a PAGNY physician at H+H/Lincoln, is a Fellow this year, and we expect to have another three Fellows from PAGNY beginning in 2023. PAGNY Fellows in the program receive additional support, release time, and pilot funding to improve care at their home facilities.
At PAGNY, we invest in cutting-edge research to advance medicine and directly address historic inequities in health care. Through increased research capacity afforded by programs like IGNITE and the COMMUNITY Center, PAGNY professionals serve our community by leading initiatives to help those most in need.
