September 15, 2009
The NIAMS Multicultural Outreach News is an online quarterly digest to help keep our partners informed about information and resources for multicultural communities on diseases and conditions of the bones, joints, muscles and skin.
Feature Story
Multicultural News & Events
Where is the NIAMS?
Featured Resources
Health Partnership Program
Update
Did You Know?
Health Information
Portal en español
Contact Us
Sara Rosario Wilson
Multicultural Outreach
Coordinator
Mimi Lising, M.P.H.
Multicultural Health Educator
Janet S. Austin, Ph.D.
Director
Office of Communications and Public Liaison
niamsinfo@mail.nih.gov
Website: www.niams.nih.gov
For a Future Clinician-Scientist, Success Is a Journey
Adewole Adamson is a fellow working in the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) Intramural Research Program. He began his fellowship in August 2008 as part of the Clinical Research Training Program, a 12-month program designed to attract the most creative, research-oriented medical and dental students to the intramural campus of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Health Disparities Seminar Series
The NIH National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) sponsors the monthly Health Disparities Seminar Series which provides information on advances, gaps and current issues related to health disparities research. It features national and international health disparities research experts including many who are funded by the NCMHD, other NIH Institutes and Centers, and federal agency partners. Each seminar focuses on a specific theme.
Women’s Health Seminar Series
The NIH Office of Research on Women’s Health presents the Women’s Health Seminar Series which features nationally recognized leaders in women’s health research who present the latest information on topics important to women’s health. The most recent seminar featured a discussion with experts on the interaction of depression with other diseases. The presentation focused on fetal antecedents to depression, as well as depression and bone health, cancer and heart disease.
To view this event, please visit the NIH videocast archive.
The NIAMS exhibit will be traveling to the following events:
Tenants and Workers United Multicultural Health Fair
September 19, 2009
Alexandria, VA
Barney Neighborhood House Health Fair
September 25, 2009
Washington, DC
Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science
October 15-18, 2009
Dallas, TX
American College of Rheumatology Health Professionals Conference
October 16-21, 2009
Philadelphia, PA
American Academy of Pediatrics
October 17-20, 2009
Washington, DC
Senior Beacon Info Expo
October 25, 2009
Bethesda, MD
American Indian Science and Engineering Society
October 29-31, 2009
Portland, OR
Association of Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students
November 4-7, 2009
Phoenix, AZ
For many parents, September signals a return to a routine of school activities and sports for their children. The following publications can help parents understand common injuries and how to prevent them, and give them tips on how to help keep their kids’ bones healthy.
- What Are Sports Injuries? (English and Spanish)
- What Are Sprains and Strains? (English and Spanish)
- Kids and Their Bones: A Guide for Parents (English and Spanish)
Coming Soon! 2010 Pocket Planner With Tips and Resources for Healthy Bones for Life
The 12-month planner contains tips and resources on bone health, osteoporosis and related topics. The planner also provides information on clinical trials, as well as the role of calcium in bone health, including how much calcium the body needs and a helpful reference table of selected calcium-rich foods. Look for the planner order form on our Website in December.
AHRQ Launches Monthly Health Advice Column and Enhanced Website in Spanish
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released a new monthly online health advice column for Spanish-speaking consumers called Consejos de Salud Para Tí (Health Advice for You). The column provides evidence-based tips on preventive health, safe and appropriate use of medications and other medical therapies, ways to get better health care, and other key health care issues. The column is part of AHRQ’s Información en EspañolWebsite, which has been enhanced and now includes audio and video in Spanish on a wide range of health care issues.
Consumer Guides Now Available in Spanish
Spanish versions of the following consumer summary guides are now available from the AHRQ Effective Health Care Program:
- Tratamientos para la osteoporosis que ayudan a prevenir fracturas de huesos: Guía para mujeres después de la menopausia (Osteoporosis Treatments That Help Prevent Broken Bones: A Guide for Women After Menopause)
- Medicamentos para la artritis reumatoide: Guía para adultos (Rheumatoid Arthritis Medicines: A Guide for Adults)
- Escogiendo Medicamentos Para el Dolor por Osteoartritis (Choosing Pain Medicine for Osteoarthritis)
Barney Neighborhood House, Senior Program
Barney Neighborhood House (BNH) is a Washington, D.C., institution that serves as the lead agency to deliver social services to elderly residents in Wards One and Four.
One critical element of BNH's services is the day-time care of the District's seniors, many of whom are bused from their residences to spend the day at the center. The BNH Senior Program is housed in an unassuming building in Northwest Washington, D.C. Inside, Activities Coordinator, Mr. James Thompson, engages the seniors and organizes activities to stimulate their minds and bodies. These activities include literacy and fitness classes, health promotion sessions and trips to local attractions.
The BNH collaborates with private and public organizations to provide free services to the District’s seniors. Some of these services include free hot lunches delivered to isolated and home-bound seniors, nutrition counseling, and home visits and assistance for caregivers at locations throughout the city.
The care and services provided by staff at BNH keep to the spirit of its founders, Charles F. Weller, Eugenia Winston Weller, and John B. Sleman, Jr. Originally established in 1901 as The Neighborhood House, it later changed to the Barney Neighborhood House and Social and Industrial Settlement to recognize Alice Pike Barney and her daughters, who were active volunteers and patrons of the institution. In April 1981, the BNH was designated the head agency for senior services in its selected wards.
News From the Community Health Center
Cardozo Clinic Bids Farewell to Its Nurse Practitioner
The NIAMS Cardozo Community Health Clinic (CHC) recently bade farewell to Heather Greysen, N.P., as she left Washington, D.C., for New Haven, Connecticut. Ms. Greysen joined the CHC in 2007 after she moved to the area from San Francisco. Always with a smile on her face, Ms. Greysen took on many responsibilities. One such responsibility was that of patient care, serving both as the primary care provider and a liaison between the physician and patient. She was instrumental in developing several operational procedures that improved patient care, assisted patient management and enhanced the facility. During her tenure, Ms. Greysen helped launch a new research project to improve the quality of the patient referrals to the clinic from the underserved community. Dr. Mark Gourley and Ms. Greysen visited several sites in the referring provider community to give information and support literature to community physicians to assist them in referring patients to the clinic. To date, the CHC has analyzed approximately 300 referrals that were received in the past year. The clinic hopes these research efforts will add to the quality of care that its patients receive. While CHC staff members are sad that Ms. Greysen has left, they are excited for her new career in Connecticut and are hopeful that the new nurse practitioner will be able to fill her shoes.
NIAMS Welcomes New Round of Clinical Fellows
NIAMS welcomes Drs. Maria Alba, Siddharth Bethi and Nadia Habal to its Rheumatology Fellowship Program. This program provides a balance of both academic and practical training for physicians wishing to pursue a career in academic rheumatology medicine. Program participants tend to be recent graduates of 3-year internal medicine residency programs and work as NIAMS clinical fellows for 2 or more years. The fellows gain practical knowledge by completing clinical rotations in consultative practice, pediatric rheumatology, and community-based rheumatology practice. They spend a good deal of time working at the NIAMS Cardozo Community Health Clinic in Washington, D.C., which offers them an opportunity to enhance their clinical skills in a community setting.
“The time spent at the NIH helped me realize that I wanted to pursue further training in rheumatology and participate in clinical research,” notes Dr. Maria Alba, who first came to the NIH as a clinical research fellow for the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research’s Sjörgren’s Syndrome Clinic. Dr. Alba, a native of the Dominican Republic, received her medical degree from the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo before coming to the United States to complete her internal medicine training at Lincoln Medical Center and Lenox Hill Hospital in New York.
New NIAMS Clinical Fellow Dr. Siddharth Bethi recognizes the great opportunity to learn from NIH faculty members. He grew up in India where he received his medical degree, graduating from Mahatma Gandhi Mission Medical College in Aurangabad in 2000. After completing his residency in India, Dr. Bethi came to the United States to pursue his master’s degree in public health at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, graduating in 2004. Before joining NIH as a fellow, Dr. Bethi completed his internal medicine residency at the Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, New York.
“I feel quite privileged to be working at NIH,” states Dr. Nadia Habal, who aspires to become a rheumatology teaching and attending physician. She comes to NIAMS after serving as chief resident of the Internal Medicine Residency Program at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital of Dallas. Dr. Habal grew up in Sherman, Texas, and completed her post-secondary education from Baylor University. In 2004, she traveled to the Texas-Mexico border to complete her third year of medical school at the Regional Academic Health Center in Harlingen. The following year she received her medical degree from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio where she also completed her preliminary internship.
NIAMS looks forward to working with this talented group of young physicians!
Researchers from NIAMS recently discovered a new genetic immune disorder in children. The scientists have termed the new autoinflammatory syndrome "DIRA" (deficiency of the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist). Children with the disorder display a constellation of serious and potentially fatal symptoms that include swelling of bone tissue, bone pain and deformity. Most of the children begin to have symptoms from birth to 2 weeks of age. Read more in our press release.