Chicago Asian Resource Center for Minority Aging Research (RCMAR)

Scientific Premise: 1) Population Imperative: US Asians are the fastest growing minority group with 21 million and a 56% increase from 2000-2013, yet it is the most understudied population; 2) Asian Paradox: while overall US Asians are the highest-income earners and best-educated amongst minority groups, more Asians live below the poverty line compared to white Americans, are less likely to enroll as participants in biomedical research, and suffer disproportional disparities in many social and health outcomes; 3) Cultural Heterogeneity: These health disparities are further exacerbated by the heterogeneity of this predominantly immigrant population, especially with respect to culture, religion, language, sexual identity, and trauma exposure, many of which challenges our assumptions about the “model minority” myths; 4) Family Orientation: Despite their diversity, there are unifying themes that threads across Asian cultures with shared experiences of immigration, trauma, strong family bonds, cultural values and expectations and the intergenerational natures of aging process. Supported by external and internal advisory committees, our Chicago Asian RCMAR will provide leadership and infrastructure to build a center that is designed to foster the next generation of researchers in a nurturing environment that is conducive to success and promotes highly relevant and rigorous research focusing on trauma, resilience and health outcomes in US Asian populations. We bring strong Scientific Rigor and Transparency to this Chicago Asian RCMAR through our: 1) two decades of rigorous minority aging research and track-record of successful academic achievements on the issues of trauma, resilience and health outcomes; 2) preparation of this P30 RFA over the last 2 years, by using institutional and local resources to jump start the Asian Health Equity Collaborative, demonstrate feasibility, benchmarks through research, education, training an outreach that have advanced Asian population health in many dimensions; 3) strong existing infrastructure involving all of Chicago’s major medical centers (U of Chicago, Northwestern, U of Illinois, Loyola, DePaul University) to collectively advance Asian health issues; 4) synergistic, equitable and sustainable community engagement track record with commitment of over 40 Asian community organizations assembled in this application to advance Asian health equity. This Chicago Asian RCMAR will have three inter-connected research themes: 1) understand the cross ethnic variations in the social, cultural and behavioral mechanisms of trauma and stress across Asian populations through translational research; 2) explore the potential differential health outcomes associated with trauma and immigration and mechanisms of resilience in ameliorating adverse consequences among Asian populations; and 3) build institutional and community capacity that tests and adapts evidence based behavioral change strategies to prevent and treat trauma, promote resilience and mitigate the effect of stressful events in Asian aging populations. The overall aims of the application that reflect the respective Administrative (AC), Research Education (REC), Analyses (AnC) and Community-Engagement Liaison & Recruitment (CLRC) Cores are to: 1. Provide leadership and organizational communication and evaluation systems designed to achieve the overarching goals of supporting high quality and enduring inter-disciplinary research careers in trauma, resilience and health outcomes research among older Asian populations. (AC, REC, CLRC) 2. Deve