ANN ARBOR—A grant renewal of $2.7 million will enable the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research to continue its work to improve the health of older African Americans.

The Michigan Center, a collaboration of the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research and the Wayne State University Institute of Gerontology, is one of only seven across the country established to improve the health of older minorities through education, scholarship and outreach.

The grant renewal through 2017 was awarded by the National Institute on Aging, part of the National Institutes of Health.

Faculty at the Michigan Center investigate why older urban minorities suffer from poorer health than their white counterparts, and mentor junior minority scholars to encourage high quality research into issues affecting aging and ethnicity.

The center provides free health screenings and community forums to educate more than 1,000 older minority members each year about preventing diseases that are prevalent in certain ethnic groups. It also maintains a database of older Detroit-area African Americans who are willing to volunteer for research projects. This pool of volunteers is highly valuable to researchers since African Americans and other minority groups have traditionally been underrepresented in research.

James Jackson, director of U-M’s Institute for Social Research and the Daniel Katz Distinguished University Professor of Psychology, is principal investigator of the Michigan Center. Peter Lichtenberg, director of the WSU Institute of Gerontology is co-director of the center’s administrative core.

“We take great pride in the accomplishments of our Michigan Center,” Jackson said. “To date, 47 minority scholars have completed our program. More than two-thirds of these researchers have received grant funding, many of them as principal investigators on NIH grants. They are working hard to address the health disparities that plague our African American elders.”

African Americans have significantly higher rates of diabetes, stroke, heart disease, high blood pressure and certain cancers as they age. Research is focused on why this disparity occurs and methods for reversing it.

“For 15 years, we have partnered with older adults to promote healthier aging,” Lichtenberg said. “With this grant, we continue strengthening scholarship and focusing on the health and education needs of Detroit’s elders. It takes time to make a difference that will last.”

Established in 1949, the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research is the world’s largest academic social science survey and research organization, and a world leader in developing and applying social science methodology, and in educating researchers and students from around the world. ISR conducts some of the most widely cited studies in the nation, including the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, the American National Election Studies, the Monitoring the Future Study, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the Health and Retirement Study, the Columbia County Longitudinal Study and the National Survey of Black Americans. ISR researchers also collaborate with social scientists in more than 60 nations on the World Values Surveys and other projects, and the institute has established formal ties with universities in Poland, China and South Africa. ISR is also home to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, the world’s largest digital social science data archive. For more information, visit the ISR website at www.isr.umich.edu.

The Institute of Gerontology researches the aging process, educates students in gerontology and presents programs on aging issues relevant to professionals, caregivers and older adults in the community (www.iog.wayne.edu). The institute is part of the Division of Research at Wayne State University, one of the nation’s preeminent public research institutions in an urban setting. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visit www.research.wayne.edu.