The Center for Health Disparities Research (CHDR)
is committed to advancing research, education, & clinical innovation toward the elimination of health disparities.
Launched in 2021, CHDR brings together experts from different fields—like medicine, basic science, social science, history, and public policy—to better understand how our environments and life experiences across the life course affect our biology and our health.
Under the direction of Associate Dean for Social Health Sciences and Programs Amy Kind, MD, PhD, CHDR is part of the Office of Social Health Sciences and Programs at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.
Dr. Kind is joined by Deputy Directors Andrea Gilmore Bykovskyi, PhD, RN and Nicole Rogus-Pulia, PhD, CCC-SLP, as well as a cross-disciplinary executive committee, in leading the Center.
Meet CHDR’s Executive Committee
Top News
Health Disparities Research & the Wisconsin Idea
Longstanding—and seemingly intractable—disparities in health and health outcomes are experienced disproportionately by racial and ethnic minority populations, socioeconomically disadvantaged populations, underserved rural populations, and sexual and gender minorities.
In the US, these populations experience disease and earlier death at much higher rates than non-disparity populations.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison recognizes that more robust efforts to address health disparities are urgently required. The School of Medicine and Public Health, along with other entities across campus, embody the Wisconsin Idea by working collaboratively and partnering with communities across the State and Nation to advance the health of all.
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Our Mission
Created to strategically complement UW–Madison’s existing strengths in research, clinical practice, education, and cross-disciplinary collaboration, CHDR functions as an interactive nexus to amplify the impact and reach of exposome science. As our core mission, we strive to:
- catalyze research, clinical innovation, and educational activities in health disparities research;
- grow and nurture the health disparities research and practice community
- bring the benefits of multi-level mechanistic health disparities research to all in Wisconsin and beyond.
Our Research
Health disparities research increasingly aligns with action by unlocking how social factors interact with biology to produce disease & designing solutions that are precisely tailored for targeted conditions, systems, and populations—thus linking cells to communities.
CHDR leads the nation in life-course social exposome research, competing on a national scale for top-tier NIH funding and housing infrastructure found nowhere else in the U.S.
The Neighborhoods Study
NIH/NIA R01AG070883
PI: Amy Kind, MD,PhD
The Neighborhood Atlas
& Area Deprivation Index (ADI)
PI: Amy Kind, MD,PhD
Swallowing & Salivary Bioscience Lab
PI: Nicole Rogus-Pulia, PhD, CCC-SLP
ADRC Care Research Core (Core H)
NIH/NIA P30AG062715-07
Lead: Nicole Rogus-Pulia, PhD, CCC-SLP
Cognitive Health Communication & Ethics Research Core
NIH/NIA K99/R00 AG083131
PI: Fred Ketchum, MD, PhD
Powell Research
NIH/NIA R21AG079277
PI: W. Ryan Powell, PhD
Reach & Impact
CHDR Featured on WKOW
WKOW's Chloe Morrissey reports on the impact of CHDR's research in the community.
Healing the World, Block by Block | On Wisconsin magazine
Will Cushman highlights some of the ways CHDR works to improve policy decisions and transform how health care is delivered.