Studies help us better understand the world around us. Whether it’s about health, education, the environment, or how people live and work, research gives us the information we need to create positive changes. Instead of focusing only on individual medical care, population health considers things like where people live, how much money they make, their education, and even the food they have access to. These factors all play a role in how healthy people are.
Studies Actively Recruiting Participants
Explore our current research studies that are actively seeking participants – your involvement could help advance medical knowledge and improve health outcomes in our community.
About this research: This is a one year study. The purpose of this research study is to learn if having financial support, support for buying healthy food, and information about preventing heart disease can help improve your health and quality of life. This study is being done within the African American/Black community in Buffalo, N.Y. A total of 200 people will be eligible to enroll.
What this study includes: Every participant in this study will meet with a health educator to receive tailored health information regularly. Some participants will receive financial incentives and income support each month for purchasing healthy food. Every participant will be paid $50 per visit for completing the research surveys and labs to measure cardiovascular risk at each of the study visits, a total of $200.
Funding Agency: Office of the Vice President for Health Sciences Seed Grant, PI: Campbell)
About this research: This is a one-time study. This research is being done to understand what helps or makes it harder to provide home-based care for adults as they grow older and who have heart and metabolic disease. This study is being done to create a program that supports receiving health care and services at home for adults who are at risk of heart disease as they age. A total of 100 participants will be in this study.
What this study includes: Participants will be asked to take part in a one-time study visit. During this visit, you will fill out a survey about your health, diet, cognitive function, social life and overall quality of life. You will also have measures taken for diabetes, cholesterol, and kidney function. You will be paid $50 for completion.
About this research: Food insecurity affects nearly 28% of people with diabetes in the U.S., with African Americans facing it at three times the rate of white Americans. While food vouchers, farmers market coupons, and pre-packaged food boxes are used to address this issue, their impact on diabetes outcomes is unclear. This study tests whether monthly food support—via vouchers, stock boxes, or both—combined with diabetes education can improve blood sugar control in low-income African Americans with type 2 diabetes.
About this research: African Americans face higher rates and costs of diabetes, along with greater risks of complications and early death—largely driven by structural racism. This study tests the effectiveness of conditional cash transfers (DM-CCT), tied to biweekly virtual diabetes education and stress management, versus unconditional cash transfers (UCT), in improving clinical outcomes, self-care, and mental health among inner-city African Americans with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes.
About this research: Diabetes disproportionately affects older adults from racial and ethnic minority groups, leading to higher rates of illness, disability, and death. Social factors like food and housing insecurity, stress, and limited resources play a major role in these disparities, yet few large studies have tested interventions that address these issues. This study evaluates an 8-session, in-home, group-based diabetes behavioral program—delivered by trained nurse educators in senior housing located in low-income, high-minority areas—to improve blood sugar control and reduce complications and mortality among African American and Hispanic older adults.
About this research: Diabetes places a heavy burden on ethnic minority groups, and early research suggests financial incentives may help improve outcomes. This large-scale study tests whether adding financial incentives to nurse-led education and home telemonitoring leads to better long-term blood sugar control than education and monitoring alone. It will also assess how effective these incentives are across and within different racial and ethnic groups, and whether they can help reduce diabetes disparities.
Funding Agency: American Diabetes Association (PI: Walker)
About this research: This study evaluates whether financial incentives can effectively improve key health outcomes in food insecure individuals with type 2 diabetes, including blood sugar control (HbA1c), blood pressure, and overall quality of life. By assessing these outcomes, the research aims to determine the potential of financial support as a tool for enhancing diabetes care and reducing health disparities.
Funding Agency: Departmentally Funded (PI: Egede)
About this research: This study explores how people from different socioeconomic backgrounds make choices between immediate and future rewards—a concept known as delay discounting. It will develop a reliable way to measure this behavior and examine how financial support, such as cash transfers or income supplements, can improve health outcomes based on individuals’ lived experiences.
Studies Not Recruiting Participants
Learn about our ongoing data-driven studies that, while not currently recruiting participants, continue to generate insights aimed at improving health outcomes for our communities.
About this research: This study will explore how historical practices like redlining – a form of structural racism – continue to affect communities today. Specifically, we will:
Investigate how exposure to redlining is linked to current social challenges, education and employment opportunities, and access to health care.
Examine how these factors directly and indirectly influence health outcomes.
Identify policies at the federal, state, and local levels that could help reduce the lasting impact of redlining and close racial and ethnic gaps in health.
Work with a diverse group of community leaders, policymakers, and other stakeholders to find and prioritize solutions that reduce social risks, strengthen education and job opportunities, and improve health care access and outcomes in affected areas.
About this research: This study aims to explore how structural racism – specifically historical redlining – affects the stability of health care services in urban communities. We will:
Explore whether areas exposed to structural racism are more likely to experience hospital and clinic closures.
Study how these closures impact local communities, especially in terms of jobs, income, education, and health outcomes like mortality, disability, and chronic illness.
Identify which hospitals and clinics are higher risk of closing, particularly those serving racial and ethnic minority populations in historically redlined neighborhoods.
Collaborate with community members, health care providers, and policymakers to find ways to prevent future closures and reduce the negative effects when closures do happen.