Diversity, Inclusion, and Engagement University of Florida College of Nursing

Dr. Staja ‘Star’ Booker’s study focuses on elucidating and understanding movement-evoked pain, or MEP, in older African Americans with knee osteoarthritis. MEP is an emerging concept and represents a shift in assessing pain during movement-based activities rather than simply at rest. Goals include identifying biopsychosocial-behavioral factors implicated in MEP and associated physical function, while developing a collaborative intervention with older African Americans to improve knee pain and function/physical activity.

The Florida-California Cancer Research, Education & Engagement (CaRE2) Health Equity is proposed by the University of Florida, Florida A&M University and the University of Southern California-Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center to eliminate cancer health disparities in Florida, California and nationally. The long term goals of the CaRE2 center are to reduce cancer disparities in Blacks and Latinos, to train and increase the pool of underrepresented Black and Latino scientists conducting health disparity research, to increase research capacity at FAMU, and to increase cancer disparity research at UF and USC-NCCC. The bi-coastal location offers access to uniquely diverse populations of Blacks and Latinos, facilitating in an unprecedented way, the study of cancer disparities in these incredibly heterogeneous populations.

The long-term goal of Dr. Miriam Ezenwa’s research is to reduce stress and improve SCD pain control with less opioid use through an intervention with self-management relaxation/distraction exercises (RDE), named You Cope, We Support (YCWS). Americans living with SCD suffer recurrent episodes of acute and chronic pain, both of which are exacerbated by stress. Building on the successes of our prior formative studies, we now propose a well-designed, appropriately powered study to test efficacy of YCWS on outcomes (pain intensity, stress intensity, opioid use) in adults with SCD.

In patients with SCD, pain results in an amalgam of negative physical and emotional consequences. A significant barrier to adequately address the pain of SCD is the insufficient information about underlying mechanisms affecting the variable degree and types of pain experienced by patients. Multiple biological and psychological factors known so far to contribute to other pain conditions are under-studied in SCD. Dr. Keesha Roach’s research will utilize existing data for several vasopressin-related biological/psychosocial factors and quantitative sensory testing (QST) to investigate these mechanisms (and potential interactions) in SCD pain.

Dr. Ellen Terry’s research involves determining whether pain catastrophizing contributes to ethnic group differences in pain-related brain function, clinical pain and pain sensitivity among African Americans and non-Hispanic whites with knee osteoarthritis, along with the impact of an anti-catastrophizing manipulation on central pain processes and pain.

More than 100 million Americans have diabetes or pre-diabetes and 1.8 million new cancer diagnoses are expected in 2020. Epidemiologically, a strong link exists between type 2 diabetes (T2D) and several forms of cancer including liver, pancreatic, and endometrial cancers. Given these linkages and the potential for improved oncologic treatment, it is imperative to detect and manage T2D in newly diagnosed cancer patients. Dr. Lisa Scarton’s long-term goal is to routinely screen for and effectively manage T2D in adults with newly diagnosed cancer. Attempting to harmonize treatment of two chronic conditions can be difficult for the treatment team and patients. In collaboration with their physician colleagues, nurses are well positioned and trained to bridge the gap between cancer and T2D care.