Pilot Award Projects
Forge AHEAD Center: Pilot Award Projects
Forge AHEAD Center is committed to awarding early stage investigators pilot award funds for projects to advance the knowledge of chronic disease in the Deep South. By supporting these projects, we are forging a future of informed investigators who are quick to collaborate and innovate. We look forward to fostering the next generation of investigators.
The following projects have been awarded to Forge AHEAD Scholars through our Pilot & Feasibility Scholars Program. Click here to learn about the funding process.
Funding is available for up to 6 projects per cycle for up to $50,000 each for one year.
Cohort 6
Using a Physician-Patient and Community Advisory Board to Address Health Care Discrimination and Improve Cardiovascular Outcomes for Black American Adults
Scholar: Osayande Agbonlahor
Institution: UMMC
State: MS
Disease focus: Hypertension Control, Cardiovascular Disease
Empowering faith-based communities to provide personalized diabetes self-management education and support (DSMES) in the Magic City: A pilot study
Scholar: Dashauna M. Ballard
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus:Diabetes Management
Assessing the Feasibility and Preliminary Efficacy of a Hispanic Community Health Worker Program in a Safety-net Clinic
Scholar: Courtney E. Gamston
Institution: Auburn University
State: AL
Disease focus: Diabetes Management
Pharmacist-Led Remote Patient Monitoring for Diabetes and Hypertension Management in Persistent Poverty Areas
Scholar: Chloe Taub
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: Diabetes Management, Hypertension Control
A Clinical Decision Support Questionnaire to Identify Obstacles to Blood Pressure Control
Scholar: Gabriel S. Tajeu
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: Hypertension and Blood Pressure Control
Cohort 5
Evaluating the Utilization of the Heart Truth Program® among Young Black Women in the Deep South
Scholar: Keri Barron
Institution: University of Alabama
State: AL
Disease focus:
Pilot Testing of a Primary Care-Based Dyadic Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Intervention: “Heart Care Pairs”
Scholar: Kaylee Crockett
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus:
Enhancing Patient-Centered Care for Older African American Patients with Cardiovascular Comorbidities: Piloting the Patient Priorities Care Model at Cooper Green Mercy Health Service Authorities (PPC-HEART)
Scholar: Deborah Ejem
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus:
Development and Validation of a Diabetes Risk Score for Undiagnosed Hispanics Living in the United States
Scholar: Lucia Juarez
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus:
AI-Guided Risk Stratification for Medication Reconciliation for Patients with Diabetes
Focus: Uses artificial intelligence to strengthen medication reconciliation and reduce adherence-related risks for diabetic patients.
Scholar: Joshua Lee
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus:
Feasibility and Acceptability of a Yoga Intervention in Heart Failure Patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment
Scholar: Chin-Yen Lin
Institution: Auburn University
State: AL
Disease focus:
Cohort 4
Facilitated Stable Housing as a Strategy for Uptake and Sustainment of Evidence-Based HIV and Cardiometabolic Medicine in People with HIV
Scholar: Donny Gerke
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: HIV, Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention
Laying the Foundation for PrEP in Urgent Care Settings
Scholar: Matt Gravett
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: HIV, Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention
Peer MODELS: (Managing a Community-based HIV, Diabetes, and pain intervention that Encourages healthy Living and provides Support), for PWH and T2D in the setting of chronic pain
Scholar: Kristen Allen-Watts
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: HIV, Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention
Cohort 3
Linking GAINS: Linking Genetics and Improving Nutrition in Scotlandville
Scholar: Jennifer Caldwell
Institution: PBRC
State: LA
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention, Diabetes Prevention
Adaptation and Initial Feasibility of a Primary Care-based Dyadic Cardiovascular Risk Reduction Intervention: “Heart Care Pairs”
Scholar: Kaylee Crockett
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention, HTN Control
Post-Emergency Department Discharge Clinic Telehealth Program for Patients with Uncontrolled Hypertension
Scholar: Lama Ghazi
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: HTN Control
Cohort 2
Mobile Community Stroke Self-Management Program: A Feasibility Study
Scholar: Mudasir Andrabi
Institution: UA
State: AL
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention
A feasibility trial of a stakeholder-enhanced, lay-navigator-delivered intervention to improve the decisional partnership of Chronic Kidney Disease dyads
Scholar: Shena Gazaway
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention, HTN Control
Sickle Cell FIT: Increasing Physical Activity in Youth with Sickle Cell Disease
Scholar: Cynthia Karlson
Institution: UMMC
State: MS
Disease focus: Obesity Treatment, Diabetes prevention
TARGETing Healthy Weight Loss in the Context of Food Insecurity Pilot and Feasibility Trial II
Scholar: Candice A. Myers
Institution: PBRC
State: LA
Disease focus: Obesity Treatment
Addressing Cardiometabolic Disease in People Living with HIV: Developing Strategies to Improve Diet and Exercise by Assessing Multi-level Social Determinants of Health
Scholar: Rongbing Xie
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention, HIV, Medically Complex Patients
Cohort 1
Cardiometabolic Complications in Women with PCOS: Role of Androgens, Race/Ethnicity, and the Renin-Angiotensin System
Scholar: Licy L. Yanes Cardozo
Institution: UMMC
State: MS
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention
Social Determinants of Health and their Impact on Establishing Heart Failure Care in a Clinic for the Underserved
Scholar: Stephen Clarkson
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention
Tracking Outcomes of Hypertension in Women with Breast Cancer
Scholar: LaQuita Cooper
Institution: UMMC
State: MS
Disease focus: HTN Control, Breast Cancer
Teen Mom 2: A Multicomponent Digital Health Intervention to Improve Black Maternal Cardiometabolic Health in Mississippi’s WIC Community
Scholar: Abigail Gamble
Institution: UMMC
State: MS
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention, HTN Control
Improving patient knowledge of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: patient-centered and community-engaged pilot study
Scholar: Yulia Khodneva
Institution: UAB
State: AL
Disease focus: Cardiometabolic Disease Prevention, Medically Complex Patients
TARGETing Healthy Weight Loss in the Context of Food Insecurity Pilot and Feasibility Trial
Scholar: Candice A. Myers
Institution: PBRC
State: LA
Disease focus: Obesity Treatment