News

International Chronic Disease Research Development Workshop Held at EPH

Community Action to Prevent Chronic Disease (CAPCoD), with support from Oxford Health Alliance, presented a series of global health research workshops from May 11 to 20, hosted by the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health (EPH).

The International Chronic Disease Research Development workshop was designed to assess promising options for large-scale community intervention research in developing countries and in the United States. Attendees are principal investigators of 18 potential research projects around the globe and six projects from the U.S. The investigators prepared their research proposals based on diverse and innovative approaches to population level interventions to change diet, smoking and physical activity through a variety of strategies.

Lars Sorensen, President and Chief Executive Officer of Novo Nordisk A/S, visited Yale to launch the initiative and to discuss future collaboration with Yale.

During the workshop, the international and U.S. research teams discussed their proposed interventions, designed to plausibly and affordably reduce population burden of chronic diseases in their communities, and also exchanged their ideas and skills with each other.

“This workshop… [opened]… a new chapter of research and development in chronic diseases all around the world,” said Mahmood Adil, director of Research & Development of CAPCoD Projects, Visiting Scholar from the Department of Health for England, and Lecturer in EPH's Division of Global Health (GHD).

Chronic disease, particularly cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and chronic respiratory disease, accounts for over 50 percent of all deaths worldwide. Tobacco use, poor diet and physical inactivity are among the major risk factors contributing to this disease burden.

Four billion people living in low and middle-income countries are now bearing most of the burden of chronic diseases against the myth that these are only health problems of affluent societies. But unlike their colleagues in the U.S., researchers in these countries do not have the capacity or capability to look into the issues and to find local or national solutions to put them ahead of the curve.

To address this issue, the Oxford Alliance, supported by Novo Nordisk A/S, and Oxford and Yale Universities, initiated CAPCoD. These projects are based on applied and community-based research, which is needed to assess the effectiveness of the right interventional approaches in different cultures and settings to deal with chronic diseases in an effective and timely manner.

In addition to Adil, EPH faculty members participating in the workshop included Derek Yach, Chair of the CAPCoD Steering Committee and Professor and Head of GHD, Loretta DiPietro, Associate Professor of Epidemiology in EPH's Division of Environmental Health Sciences, Nora Groce, Associate Professor of Public Health in GHD, Kari Hartwig, Assistant Clinical Professor of Public Health in GHD, Melinda Irwin, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in EPH's Division of Chronic Disease Epidemiology (CDE), Trace Kershaw, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in CDE, Judith Lichtman, Assistant Professor of Epidemiology in CDE, Susan Mayne, Professor of Epidemiology in CDE, and Hong Wang, Assistant Professor of Public Health in GHD.

Contact: Karen Peart – (203) 432-1326