Message from the Director

Clinton D. Brown,
MD, FASN

The Brooklyn Health Disparities Center is a partnership between SUNY Downstate Medical Center, the Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health, and the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President. The overarching goal of the center is to eradicate health disparities plaguing minority communities in Brooklyn, New York.

The center is ideally located to tackle health problems that disproportionately affect minorities and new immigrants in Brooklyn. We, at the center, affectionately refer to Brooklyn as the Mecca of minority research, given its rich the differing ethnicity and cultures that define its neighborhoods. With an estimated 2.2 million residents, Brooklyn is the largest county in New York State. According to the most recent U.S. Census data, over 50% of Brooklyn residents are from minority groups.

Consistent with the goals of Healthy People 2010, the center has focused its research and outreach efforts to reduce the prevalence of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease, renal disease, and type 2 diabetes; to provide greater access to health care; and ultimately to increase overall quality of life and to decrease mortality risk.

Over the past three years, the center has forged strong collaborations with academic institutions and community-based organizations in Brooklyn. We have conducted several research projects that have resulted in community-based approaches to reduce health disparities and to promote healthy lifestyle among Brooklyn’s minorities.

The center has also been engaged in training programs geared towards minority youth, medical students, doctors in training, and junior clinicians and scientists to pursue independent research career in translational research.