FSOS prof’s project awarded Ramsey County Public Health Award

FSOS associate professor Tai Mendenhall’s research project The East Metro American Indian Diabetes Initiative (EMAIDI) is the recipient of the 2017 Ramsey County Public Health Award.

Mendenhall is the co-PI on this project, which is funded by the Minnesota Department of Health and NIH/Stanford Health.

The EMAIDI is composed of four core team members who represent established and innovative organizations in St. Paul, MN that are highly invested in seeking knowledge and promoting the health of urban-dwelling American Indian (AI) people.

The primary goal is to engage AI community members (including youth, adults, and elders), professionals (including medical, mental health, and social service providers), and university researchers to better understand and reduce health disparities. Using community-based participatory research (CBPR) methods, our team worked to identify unique challenges/needs and develop specific methods for tapping/utilizing families’ and community resources/assets to address said challenges/needs.

The 2017 Ramsey County Public Health Award recognizes individuals and groups who have made exceptional contributions to improving health in Ramsey County centering on tenets of innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, and empirically-supported outcomes.