A University of Colorado Ph.D. student received a $4.2 million grant to study how best to prevent and treat diabetes in American Indians and Alaska Natives. Between 1994 and 2002, diabetes increased among American Indian and Alaska Native population 11.5 percent to 15.3 percent, making the disease twice as prevalent in that population as in the overall population of U.S. adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
The CDC awarded the 5-year grant to Tim Noe, a public affairs student and research assistant at CU’s American Indian and Alaska Native Programs, said Tonya Ewers, a university spokeswoman.
“Through this study, we are identifying those organizational characteristics that are associated with successful implementation of tribal diabetes programs,” Noe said in a press release. “We are also evaluating how to assist less successful, underperforming programs in developing characteristics in their organizations so that they, too, can successfully address diabetes in their communities.”
The American Indian and Alaska Native Programs, housed in the Nighthorse Campbell Native Health Building at CU’s Aurora campus, administers more than $63 million in grants and contracts for research and works with 69 tribes, 38 community-based health organizations and 12 Alaska Native regional corporations across 26 states, Ewers said.
