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Native American Health Research Programs Receive $6 Million in Grants

A Navajo Nation project to develop a Navajo Ethnomedical Encyclopedia. Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium research projects focusing on issues such as autoimmune liver disease and smoking prevention. A training program to prepare Native American students, faculty and health professionals in Arizona for research careers. These projects are just three of the awardees in the most recent round of grant funding from the Native American Research Centers for Health (NARCH) program, a collaboration between the Indian Health Service and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

The NARCH grant program is designed to support culturally sensitive medical research efforts, influenced and sanctioned by tribal communities, to improve the health status of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people. This past fall, NARCH awarded a total of approximately $6 million in funding to 13 AI/AN research centers throughout the country. Individual grants ranged from $65,787 for the Navajo Nation project to $824,442 for the Albuquerque Area Indian Health Board (for projects on substance abuse intervention, cancer control and incarcerated youth). For more information about the NARCH program, visit www.ihs.gov.