2022 Update on MACCHE

In 2021, the NIH awarded $20 million to support the Mid-Atlantic Center for Cardiometabolic Health Equity (MACCHE). MACCHE is part of the Health Equity Action Network, a national consortium of health researchers and community partners who work collaboratively to ensure the greatest impact for today’s health inequity challenges

The goal of MACCHE is to assess the effectiveness of evidence-based strategies for improving cardiometabolic health outcomes among socially disadvantaged populations in Maryland. The grant funds three Intervention Studies on Cardiometabolic Disease Disparities to assess and improve outcomes in patients with hypertension, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and post-partum weight retention. The three projects are: Healthy for Two – Home Visiting (H42-HV) Program, UNLOAD Heart Failure, and LINKED-HEARTS.

Throughout 2022, MACCHE research teams have worked to prepare their projects to commence in 2023 by engaging community partners, finalizing their protocols, and aiming to begin recruitment early in 2023. 

The team also built and published the official MACCHE website, which contains information on the projects and cores, and will serve as a platform for all MACCHE updates.

The MACCHE Community Engagement Core developed and delivered a seminar series on community engagement principles and best practices for genuine collaboration and shared leadership during the 2022 CHE CAB meetings.

In addition, the MACCHE Pilot Program awarded funds to seven Early-Stage Investigators. The program includes a built-in community network, faculty mentoring, and structured didactic training to support awardees. The inaugural cohort includes: Oludolapo Fakeye, PhD, MA; Xiaoyue (Sherry) Liu, PhD; Mika Matsuzaki, PhD, MPH, MS; Serena Michelle Ogunwole, MD, PhD; Allison Sylvetsky, PhD; Curtis Tilves, PhD, MS; and Maya Venkataramani, MD, MPH.

We are looking forward to commencing our MACCHE research in 2023!