Increasing Health Equity by Linking Diabetes Education to Health Providers in Underserved Communities

The UB Center for Integrated Global Biomedical Sciences (CIGBS), OneGuild, Inc, and the ReThink Western New York Collaborative are inviting interested students to apply for an experiential learning project focused on planning virtual educational programs related to diabetes and its complications. OneGuild is an International Diabetes Education and Research Institute, dedicated to advancing research and innovation in diabetes care worldwide. The ReThink Western New York Collaborative (formerly the WNY COVID-19 Collaborative) was formed in early 2020 to bridge community, business and schools with primary care sites, hospitals, universities/colleges and health department programs addressing COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, antibody response to infection and vaccination, new treatments and implementing projects that foster a safe return to school and work. In a recent project, the Collaborative brought together community engagement programs that include the Niagara Falls Health Equity Task Force, Buffalo Urban Think Tank, Buffalo Center for Health Equity, African American Health Equity Task Force with initiatives by Western New York STEM and the UB CTSI Community Engagement Core to design innovative approaches to promote community health in under-served areas of WNY. The Collaborative is now developing new projects that will build on the ReThink WNY foundation and include many health priority areas in our region.
Diabetes is a pandemic with an estimated > 400 million individuals affected worldwide. This project will provide virtual education to be updated on the latest science and technology to improve their knowledge and clinical practice. Programs will focus on the latest updates in the prevention and management of diabetes and its complications including – but not limited to – obesity, vascular, and diabetic foot care. In addition, the project will include reviewing global needs as related to regional diabetes care and the types of educational planning that will be needed to address these challenges around the world. The project will be guided by the leadership team at OneGuild, ReThink WNY, and UB CIGBS and include developing a strategy to link health care providers in WNY to emerging aspects of diabetes prevention and care.

The student will participate in one or more of these outcomes

• Obtain information on the global diabetes pandemic.
• Apply health information systems to collect and organize educational programs and regional education needs.
• Identify areas of education that are needed in under-served communities and develop mechanisms for disseminating to schools and community groups.
• Contribute to planning efforts to make the educational programs available to a larger region in Erie and Niagara County.
• Participate in vision planning for building a regional health care network infrastructure for under-served communities and advocate for health equity.

Student participation will lead to outcomes that may include a poster for presentation at a regional conference, submission of results as an abstract for conference consideration and scientific writing experience by contributing to educational program materials, abstracts and manuscripts for publication in peer-reviewed journals.

• OneGuild Diabetes and Education Research Foundation
  
• Rethink Western New York (A Community Collaborative)
  
• Center for Integrated Global Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, SUNY
  
• SUNY Global Health Institute
  

•  Obtain information on the global diabetes pandemic.
•  Apply health information systems to collect and organize educational programs and regional education needs.
• Identify areas of education that are needed in under-served communities and develop mechanisms for disseminating to schools and community groups.
• Contribute to planning efforts to make the educational programs available to a larger region in Erie and Niagara County.
  

diabetes, education, global health, health equity, pharmacy practice