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Forge AHEAD Center

Achieving Health Equity Across the Deep South

Forge AHEAD Center

Achieving Health Equity Across the Deep South

Forge AHEAD Center

Achieving Health Equity Across the Deep South

A Collaborative Health Equity Research Center

Forge AHEAD Center is a regional comprehensive research center dedicated to advancing the prevention and management of cardiometabolic diseases, including obesity, diabetes, and hypertension, which disproportionately affect communities in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Through active community engagement and research collaboration, we aim to reduce health disparities and foster a healthier future for all.

Funded by a grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), Forge AHEAD Center is a part of the Health Equity Action Network.  

Institutions Partnering in a Center For Health Equity

Forge AHEAD Center is a partnership between institutions working together to develop the best approaches to research, education, and community engagement.

Our Vision for a Healthier Future

The vision of Forge AHEAD Center is to achieve health equity by eliminating health disparities and improving health outcomes in diabetes, obesity, and hypertension throughout the South. Our vision is accomplished through effective partnerships with academic, non-academic, and community organizations to support research, training, outreach, and education.

Our Values in Achieving Health Equity

 

 

Teamwork

DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION

EXCELLENCE IN RESEARCH

TRUSTWORTHINESS

Transparency

Innovation

Transitioning from Health Disparities to Better Health For All

Forge AHEAD Center is motivated to improve current health issues in our region. Inequalities in cardiometabolic health have long been a concern. Now, in some cases, these inequalities have widened across racial, socio-economic, and geographic lines. In the “Deep South” region of the United States of America (USA) rates of obesity, diabetes, and hypertension are the highest in the nation. Life expectancy in the Deep South is substantially lower than other regions, and this difference is even greater for Black Americans living in the area.

Elimination of these disparities – health equity for all – is our ultimate goal. Reaching health equity will require a precision public health approach, best viewed as “providing the right intervention to the right population at the right time.” This approach acknowledges the importance of context, culture, individual beliefs, and preferences, and emphasizes the needs for intervention on multiple levels addressing several areas of health and wellness.

 In The News & Local Events

Worthington receives recognition for maternal nutrition research

Camille Worthington, Ph.D., a scholar at the Forge AHEAD Center, is leading groundbreaking research on maternal nutrition.

Feeding Hope: How One Researcher is Transforming Lives in the South

When Christopher Long, Ph.D., steps up to the microphone at the Forge AHEAD Center seminar, there’s a quiet urgency in his voice. It’s the conviction of someone who’s spent years researching how food impacts health outcomes and development of chronic diseases with a focus on the people living in the Southern U.S.

Our Scholars’ stories: Caldwell bridges the gap of genetics and nutrition to enhance health outcomes among African American communities in Baton Rouge

Disparities in health outcomes for African American adults involve both biological and social health determinants

Our scholars’ stories: Andrabi seeks to fill a gap in care for stroke survivors in Alabama’s Black Belt

African American communities have a higher prevalence of both hypertension and stroke than any other ethnicity. Alabama is among one of 11 states makes up part of the region known as the Stroke Belt where death from stroke is from 2 to 4 times greater than other states.

Presley Visits Primary Care Practices in the Black Belt

Caroline Presley, M.D., along with Macie Craft, recently visited primary care practices in the Black Belt area as part of Presley’s project on remotely-delivered Mindfulness-Based Diabetes Education for rural adults with uncontrolled diabetes and elevated distress.

Presley’s Research on Emotional Distress and Diabetes Management Highlighted at the ADA Scientific Sessions

At the recent American Diabetes Association (ADA) Scientific Sessions, Caroline Presley, M.D., Project Principal Investigator at Forge AHEAD and Assistant Professor in Preventive Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, delivered a presentation titled “Emotional Distress and Insulin Initiation in the GRADE Trial.”

Ellison presented with George Bray Obesity Research Student Award at Nutrition 2024 Conference

Katie M. Ellison, MS, a doctoral student at UAB and mentee of FAC Core Project PI Drew Sayer, Ph.D., has received the prestigious George Bray Obesity Research Student Award at the Nutrition 2024 Conference in Chicago, where she presented her research on behavioral interventions in obesity treatment. Join us in congratulating Katie on this remarkable achievement.

From WNBA Dreams to Changing Lives: On A Mission to Promote Physical Activity

As a child, Amber W. Kinsey, Ph.D., dreamed of playing professional basketball in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). While her path led her elsewhere, her passion for sports ignited a lifelong mission to transform lives through physical activity and exercise.

Xie Aims to Bridge Gap Between Science and Community Health

In a region grappling with persistent health disparities, Rongbing Xie, DrPH, MPH, a scholar at the Forge AHEAD Center, is working to bring academic studies closer to the communities they aim to serve.

Forge AHEAD Center Announces Fourth Cohort of Scholars Focused on HIV

The Forge AHEAD Center (FAC) is delighted to introduce the recipients of its pilot funding for the fourth cohort, with a specific focus on HIV prevention and management in the Deep South.

Our Projects

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People & Partners

Advance Health Equity With Us

Contact us today to learn more about the Forge AHEAD Center, our research, and how to partner with us.

Cite Forge AHEAD's Grant

Forge AHEAD Center is a regional comprehensive research center funded by a P50 grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). Click below for citation information.

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