The Delta Research and Educational Foundation’s Research Accelerates Possibilities program, sponsored by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), began impacting the CCC campus community virtually during the 2021 spring term. Research Matters for All of Us program manager Dr. Alesha K. Russey is proud to have selected Dr. Melvin Newson as the advisor and Lyn Moore, student ambassador of the program for Coahoma Community College for the term lasting from September 2021 to June 2022. Russey expresses gratitude to Coahoma for being a participating institution.
With CCC being part of the corps of Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Newson sought to join the mission of urging individuals to prioritize their health by bringing awareness to various health conditions and diseases.
“I have known for a while that certain illnesses affect African American and minority communities disproportionately and often pondered how I could make a difference here in the Mississippi Delta,” said Newson.
Upon conducting a momentous Internet search, Newson discovered the All of Us Research Program. The program is a component of the National Institutes of Health that aims to build data from one million-plus people in the United States collected for researchers’ use. He then ran across the Delta Research and Educational Foundation’s All of Us Research Accelerates Possibilities program specifically for HBCUs and established to improve health outcomes in underrepresented populations.
“The All of Us Research Matters program aims to create an expansive, diverse health database,” Newson shared. “The database would serve researchers in an effort to increase the health of African Americans and minorities by gaining a better understanding of the illnesses and the health disparities that exist.
“I uncovered that All of Us Research is partnered with DREF. I reached out to DREF to see what programs could be utilized locally and the rest is history.”
For the R.A.P. college initiative created through DREF’s national initiative entitled “Research Matters: Creating Possibilities to Achieve Health and Wellness for All of Us,” one selected student ambassador at a participating HBCU works closely with their designated campus advisor to complete a paid ambassadorship to implement monthly outreach. The national initiative seeks to engage, educate, and ultimately enroll African Americans in the National Institutes of Health All of Us national registry to aid researchers.
As the program has continued with its second virtual year, lectures, held under culturally relevant themes and facilitated by both the campus advisor and student ambassador via interactive video-meeting sessions, have enlightened the campus, informing on topics including AIDS, mental health, and diabetes. Talks aim to focus on historical transgressions, life experiences, challenges, and achievements, with an objective to prompt meaningful conversations establishing the groundwork to improve the overall behavior, environment, lifestyle, perspective, health, and wellness of minority communities.
Moore, the Research Accelerates Possibilities student ambassador, says, “It gives you a drive to want to learn more and gather that knowledge and help others. In a way, it even impacts me to take my health more seriously.”