Charity Oyedeji, MD, has received a Duke REACH Equity 2021 Career Development Award for her project "Sickle cell disease functional assessment validation and refinement (SILVR) study," with mentor JJ Strouse, MD, PhD.
Dr. Oyedeji is a fellow in Hematology-Oncology and will be joining the Division of Hematology as faculty in July 2021.
Oyedeji’s overall research career goal is to understand accelerated aging, functional decline, and frailty in adults with sickle cell disease (SCD), and develop interventions to ameliorate these issues. The goal of her REACH Equity project is to develop a validated assessment tool that can facilitate early identification of functional impairments among older adults with SCD to provide the framework for future work to develop personalized exercise training interventions to improve functional impairments.
Oyedeji is among the fourth cohort of REACH Equity Scholars selected by the Duke Center for Research to Advance Healthcare Equity (REACH Equity). Targeting junior faculty, these two-year awards support mentored research projects focusing on the REACH Equity theme: addressing racial and ethnic disparities in health by developing and testing interventions that improve the quality of patient-centered care in the clinical encounter – a setting in which racial and ethnic disparities are well-documented. Scholars are selected through an NIH-style peer review process.
The REACH Equity Career Development Award program is directed by Laura P. Svetkey, MD, MHS, professor of medicine (Nephrology) and associate director of the REACH Equity Center. Scholars engage in mentored research and a career development program provided by the REACH Equity Center that includes a core curriculum, training in community engagement, statistical guidance, supplemental mentorship from REACH Equity faculty, a works-in-progress seminar series, and an annual disparities research colloquium. Prior to the end of the 2-year award period, each scholar is expected to submit a grant application for next-stage funding.
“Our REACH Equity Scholars are an outstanding group of young investigators working across disciplines, settings, and diseases to advance health equity for racial and ethnic minorities," said Kimberly S. Johnson, MD, director of the REACH Equity Center. "I am extremely excited to welcome this fourth cohort of scholars. Their proposals will develop and test broadly applicable, creative solutions to address health disparities…Dr. Svetkey and I look forward to working with them over the next 2 years of their REACH Equity support and beyond.”
The REACH Equity Center is one of 12 Specialized Centers of Excellence (U54), funded by the NIH through the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD).