Northwest Native American Research Center for Health (NW NARCH)
About NW NARCH
Carefully designed and implemented health research can provide solutions to help eliminate the vast disparities in health between Northwest American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) and non-AI/ANs; however, AI/AN communities are generally distrustful of health research because of past experiences with non-AI/AN researchers.
Our Goal
The overall goal of the NW NARCH is to develop a cadre of highly trained AI/AN biomedical and health researchers who are sensitive to the culture and specific concerns of Northwest Indian communities, and who can bring the benefits of academic research to these communities to reduce health disparities. The NW NARCH will be operated by the EpiCenter at the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB),—an Indian organization uniquely qualified to administer NARCH based on an active membership of all 43 Northwest Indian tribes in Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
Community Based Projects to Accomplish our Goal
The NW NARCH will accomplish its goal through several community-based research projects that address priority health issues.
- Primary prevention of dental caries, and type 2 diabetes through an innovative intervention program, a continuation of a study implemented through the NARCH 1 program; and
- an internet-based study of self management of Type 2 diabetes, a growing problem in NW Indian communities, We will also develop an extensive infrastructure for training and supporting
- AI/AN students and
- AI/AN faculty in high quality health and biomedical research.
Administrative Core
The administrative Core for the NW NARCH will support all of these activities with secretarial, budget-related and programmatic support. This project opens to AI/AN researchers the extensive health research training opportunities of the two premier academic health research institutes of the Northwest—Oregon Health Science University (OHSU) and the University of Washington (UW). All of these projects will be accomplished through enhancements of the existing partnership between NPAIHB, OHSU, and UW. Our efforts will help to further the position of the NW NARCH as a regional resource for AI/AN health research, and will contribute to the national effort to reduce health disparities among AI/AN people, compared to other races in the US.
