The National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) selected a grant led by the University of Miami SONHS Vice Dean for Research Affairs, Dr. Hudson Santos, Jr., as the subject of its Research Funding Spotlight in January 2024.
The NINR’s spotlight and video highlight Dr. Santos as the principal investigator (PI) on a health disparities-focused grant titled "Healthy Mothers-Healthy Children: An Intervention with Hispanic Mothers and Their Young Children.”
With the prevalence of overweight and obesity increasing among Hispanic women and young children, Dr. Santos and his research team are testing new strategies to prevent and manage chronic disease in minority mothers and their young children, with a focus on nutrition, physical activity, English as a second language, and coping skills.
“Importantly, this research is studying the interaction between participants’ environments—including where they live, have access to healthy food, and more—and their individual biology, how the two correlate with health and disease, and how the two affect health equity,” states the NINR feature article.
“Health outcomes are meaningless if we cannot understand the context where they are taking place,” Dr. Santos is quoted as saying in the video. “So, you have to look at where people live, the environment they are placed in, and the access to health care they have to be able to intervene at the different levels to achieve optimal health.”
For more information, the project number for Dr. Santos’s grant is 7R01NR017199-05. The NINR is one of 27 Institutes at The National Institutes of Health (NIH), the nation’s medical research agency.
