The School of Global Health at historically Black Meharry Medical College recently announced a new five-year initiative to mitigate cardiovascular health disparities in vulnerable communities.
In partnership with Novartis, the Health Assessments and Rapid Transformation (HEART) initiative will focus on improving cardiovascular health for residents in three U.S. cities: Nashville, Tennessee; Detroit, Michigan; and San Bernardino, California. These locations were chosen because they have disproportionately higher rates of cardiovascular disease and social vulnerability.
Over the next five years, leaders from Meharry will partner with community stakeholders in each city to co-create, implement, and measure innovative clinical and non-clinical interventions addressing specific drivers of adverse cardiovascular health outcomes. The HEART program will also focus on developing early detection methods and confronting cardiovascular risk factors, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking, through community prevention and education strategies.
“In the United States, life expectancy can differ by decades between neighboring communities, reflecting deep structural divides. At the same time, our nation has made the least progress among developed countries in reducing preventable deaths, with cardiovascular disease leading those deaths,” said Daniel E. Dawes, Meharry’s senior vice president of global health and founding dean of the School of Global Health “This initiative provides us with the opportunity to truly address the root causes of cardiovascular disease and get to the heart of the matter by leveraging the upstream determinants of health.”
