The Harvard Catalyst Health Disparities Research Consulting Program provides Harvard investigators free consultations on research that involves understanding and addressing disparities in health and health care.
Health Disparities Consulting Program
What are Health Disparities?
"Areas where there is significant disparity in overall rate of disease incidence, prevalence, morbidity, mortality, or survival rates in [one] population as compared to the status of the general population." Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and Education Act of 2000
The Health Disparities Consulting Program offers free assistance to Harvard investigators in planning, designing, implementing, and reporting health disparities research. Consultants include faculty with expertise in study design, survey instrument development, analysis of existing databases, intervention studies, and community-based research. Consultants can also provide advice on career development and help to identify potential collaborators and mentors. The consulting program is particularly interested in promoting linkages that fuel the development of innovative, trans-disciplinary research teams capable of generating new insights into factors underlying health disparities, as well as strategies to reduce such disparities.
Visit the Harvard Catalyst Health Disparities Research Program web page for more information on the program's other activities.
Consultations for Pilot Grant Applicants
The Health Disparities Consulting Program offers free consultations to investigators applying for Harvard Catalyst Pilot Grants. To provide the best service, the program must receive all Pilot Grant-related consultation requests by February 1.
Frequently Asked Questions:
1. Who is eligible to receive consultation?
Consultation is available for clinical and translational investigators in the Harvard University community (faculty, fellows, and graduate & medical students).
2. What is the cost for consultation?
Consultation is provided free of charge to eligible members of the Harvard community (see above).
3. What kinds of consultations are available?
- Advice about study design, implementation, and/or analysis (e.g., defining study populations based on ancestry, racial/ethnic identity, or socioeconomic status; recruitment; survey instrument development; data collection; incorporating a health disparities component into ongoing studies)
- Analysis of existing databases
- Intervention studies
- Identifying potential collaborators in academia and the community
- Human subjects/IRB issues
- Grant submission/resubmission
- Assistance responding to a manuscript/journal review
- Career development, including finding a mentor
4. What kinds of consultations are not available?
Consultants serve in the roles of advisor and facilitator, with a focus on assisting with the planning and design of research proposals and/or methods. They are not key personnel on projects and do not provide ongoing support for the implementation of new studies or the analysis of data from existing studies. For example, consultants are available to help prepare a grant or IRB submission, but cannot support the implementation or analysis of a funded project. The key personnel on an investigator's specific project normally provide such "post-funding" research expertise.
Consultants can, however, help identify appropriately trained individuals who may be available for collaboration. They can also advise researchers on the preparation of a Catalyst Pilot grant proposal related to health disparities.
While the Health Disparities consultation team can provide general guidance for projects that involve statistical analysis, investigators seeking advice regarding specific statistical issues (e.g., power calculations, data analysis) should contact the Harvard Catalyst Biostatistics Consulting Program.
5. How do I request a consultation?
To initiate a consultation, complete and submit the Health Disparities Consultation Request Form. Your request will be reviewed by the consultation service and you will be contacted to arrange a consultation. In some cases, we may contact you to clarify the nature of your request.
Health Disparities Consultation Team
- John Ayanian, MD, MPP
Professor of Medicine and Health Care Policy
HMS, BWH, and HSPH
Profile | Website - Jennifer Haas, MD, MSPH
Associate Professor of Medicine
BWH, HMS, and HSPH
Profile | Website - Alexandra Shields, PhD
Assistant Professor of Medicine
MGH, HMS, and the Broad Institute
Profile - LeRoi Hicks, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Medicine
BWH and HMS
Profile | Website