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grants & training.

Learn about funding opportunities, award information, eligibility, and much more related to the many rich opportunities available to Early-Stage Investigators (ESI).

Pilot grant Program

The C2DREAM Pilot Grant Program offers an opportunity for post-doctoral fellows and ESI’s to engage in mentored research projects that address chronic disease health disparities in Minnesota communities.

The program, facilitated by the C2DREAM Investigator Development core, specifically seeks community-engaged research projects focusing on cardiovascular disease and related chronic conditions such as hypertension and obesity, with a focus on BIPOC communities, immigrants, and refugees in Minnesota.

Emphasizing the impact of racism and discrimination, the program prioritizes proposals that examine their role in CVD and RCC disease risk, community experiences, and patient outcomes. Successful applicants will align their proposals with C2DREAM Conceptual Model and receive support to obtain preliminary data necessary for independent grant applications to the National Institute of Health or other funding sources.

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How it works:

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Image of the request for application for the Cycle 5 grant

The Request for Applications is open for Cycle 5! This program supports post-doctoral fellows and early-stage investigators addressing health disparities in cardiovascular disease and related chronic conditions in Minnesota communities.

Awards are intended for post-doctoral fellows and early-stage investigators (ESIs) who have not previously held federal funding as a Principal Investigator (PI) at the R01 level or equivalent. Co-PI community-academic research partnerships (i.e., with one academic PI and one community PI) are welcomed.

Applicants may request funding for up to 12 months, with total costs of up to $25,000 per project. As these are 1-year time-limited awards, projects using existing or archival data, one-time data collection, or other similar low-risk, low-burden approaches are encouraged. We anticipate awarding up to 7 projects.

Review the RFA Details.

Questions? Email C2DREAMgrants@umn.edu

request for Applications - Cycle 5

c2dream pilot grant scholars – Cycle 4

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    Tongtan Chantarat, PhD, MPH - University of Minnesota

    Title: Addressing Over-Policing To Reduce Cardiovascular Disease Burden In Racially Minoritized Communities

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    Habiba Ibrahim, PhD - St. Catherine University

    Title: Food Acculturation Patterns And Diabetes-Related Health Risks Among East African Immigrants

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    Gretchen Buchanan, PhD, MA - Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute; Psychiatry/Redleaf Center for Family Healing

    Title: What Else Can I Do? Co-Creating Integrative Medicine Intervention With Black Mothers With Hypertensive Disorders Of Pregnancy To Address Cardiovascular Inequities

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    Sarah Kaja, PhD, MS - University of Minnesota

    Title: Understanding Physical Activity, Sport Participation, and Related Experiences of Racism Among Hmong American Adolescents in Minnesota

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    Glen Morris, PhD - University of Minnesota Medical Research Center, The Hormel Institute

    Title: Providing Food Access & Nutrition Education Through Geolocation Digital Interventions

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    Justine Mrosak, MD - Hennepin Healthcare

    Title: Utilizing Health Information Exchange Interventions For Cardiometabolic Risk Reduction Through The Minnesota Women, Infants And Children Program

c2dream pilot grant scholars – Cycle 3

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    Ebiere Okah, MD, MS - University of Minnesota

    Title: Stereotypic Bias in the Counseling of Black Patient

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    Antonio Paniagua Guzmán, PhD, MS - University of Minnesota Medical School Duluth Campus - Memory Keepers-Medical Discovery Team

    Title: The Impact of Colonization on Indigenous Cardiovascular Health in Minnesota: Developing a Conceptual Framework

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    Mary Whipple, PhD - University of Minnesota

    Title: Collaborative Solutions for Breaking Up Sedentary Time in Black Older Adults with Type 2 Diabetes: The Interrupt Diabetes Study

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    Junia Nogueira de Brito, PhD, MPH, MBA - University of Minnesota

    Title: Uplifting Equitable Park Use and Promoting Physical Activity among African American Families in Minnesota: A Culturally-Responsive, Community-Engaged Approach

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    Samuel Savitz, PhD - Mayo Clinic

    Title: Evaluation of the Association of Area-based Deprivation Indices with Cardiovascular Disease Outcomes Across Racial and Ethnic Minority Groups in Southeast Minnesota

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    Amy Noser, PhD - University of Minnesota

    Title: Social Determinants of Health and Pediatric T2D Treatment Adherence

c2dream pilot grant scholars – Cycle 2

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    Hannah Cory, PhD, MPH, RD – University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

    Title: Assessing and understanding the impacts of experiencing racism in adolescence on cardiovascular health markers in Twin Cities-based young adults

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    Jeremy Van’t Hof, MD, MS – University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

    Title: Evaluating inequity in pharmacy access in Minnesota

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    Guillaume Onyeaghala, PhD, MPH – Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute

    Title: Identifying barriers and opportunities to address underrepresentation in microbiome research among African Americans affected by kidney disease in Minnesota

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    Francine Overcash, PhD, MPH – University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

    Title: Feasibility and Acceptability of a Social Network Mediterranean Diet Intervention among Hispanics/Latinx in the Twin Cities.

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    Patrick Hammett, PhD, MA – The Minneapolis VA Center for Care Delivery and Outcomes Research (CCDOR)

    Title: An Organizational Strategy for Reducing Tobacco-Related Cardiovascular Disease Risk among BIPOC Patients at Mental Health and Substance Use Clinics in Minnesota.

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    Warren McKinney, PhD – Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute

    Title: Cardiovascular Disease and Inactive Status: A Single Center Pilot to Evaluate Racial Disparities in Access to Kidney Transplantation after Waitlisting.

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    Laura Hooper, PhD, MS, RD – University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

    Title: Strengths-based, culturally responsive, body-positiveapproaches to health: Development of a training for clinicians caring for ethnically and racially diverse adolescents with high weight status in Minnesota.

c2dream pilot grant scholars – Cycle 1

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    Katherine Diaz Vickery, MD – Hennepin Healthcare

    Title: Development of a multiple health behavior change intervention for Cardiovascular risk reduction among people experiencing homelessness: the CV-HOMES study

    Summary: The CV-HOMES study will develop a multiple health behavior change coaching program to lower cardiovascular (CV) risk among people who have experienced a key social risk resulting from structural racism, and unstable housing.

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    Mohamed Ibrahim, MMBS – Wellshare International

    Title: Reducing Cardiovascular Disparities in the Greater Mankato Somali Community by Utilizing Community-based Interventions to Build Capacity Within the Community to Identify, Manage and Prevent Hypertension.

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    Erin Westfall, DO – Mayo Clinic

    Title: Reducing Cardiovascular Disparities in the Greater Mankato Somali Community by Utilizing Community-based Interventions to Build Capacity Within the Community to Identify, Manage and Prevent Hypertension.

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    Abby Lohr, PhD, MPH – Mayo Clinic

    Title: Addressing CVD inequities in Minnesota: a co-investigation with im/migrants exploring how to sustain a community-driven, social network intervention using a racism-conscious approach

    Summary: In this study, our objective is to explore how to scale and sustain a community-driven, social network intervention to improve cardiovascular disease outcomes among im/migrant populations using a racism-conscious approach.

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    Laura Suarez Pardo, MD – Mayo Clinic

    Title: Cardiac distress in Latinx/Hispanic women with cardiovascular disease and risk factors: examining its prevalence and the role of discrimination and acculturation experiences.

    Summary: The study will examine ‘cardiac distress’ in Latinx/Latino/Hispanic women with cardiovascular disease, its association with health-related quality of life, and the contributing role of acculturation, acculturative stress, discrimination, and familism.

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    Ambria Crusan, PhD, RD/LD – St. Catherine University

    Title: Increased access to fruits and vegetables for DASH Diet compliance in immigrant Hispanic/Latinx individuals with hypertension

    Summary: The primary aim of this project is to determine the effect improved access to culturally-appropriate fruits/vegetables (F/V) to meet the DASH diet recommendations has on immigrant Hispanic/Latinx individuals with hypertension (HTN) and obesity in a phased, iterative process.