Welcome to Our Center
About Us
The Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions (HCHDS) brings together the health research and program development resources of the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes (schools of Public Health, Medicine, and Nursing) to demonstrate the efficacy of public health, social science and medical science in mitigating health disparities. We do this through efforts in research, training and community outreach. The Center has a national focus, but much of our work takes place in the local Baltimore community.
The HCHDS leverages its resources by forming collaborations with other Johns Hopkins-based academic departments or research units, establishing partnerships with colleagues at other universities and organizations, and being active in all aspects of the University’s mission: research, teaching and service. The JHU-based organizational entities the HCHDS has been associated with include the Department of Gastroenterology, School of Medicine; the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center; the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research; The Health Services Research & Development Center; The Biostatistics Center; The Urban Health Institute; and The Johns Hopkins Center for Injury Research and Policy.
The mission of the Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions is to generate and disseminate knowledge to reduce racial/ethnic and social class disparities in health status and health care through research, training, community partnerships and advocacy. In accomplishing our mission, we are guided by the values of Collaboration, Innovation, and Solutions. These values are the foundation for the mission of the Center and the principles that inform all of our activities.
In addition to the JHU-based partnerships, we have collaborations with entities outside the University, including the National Institute on Aging; Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology of the Gerontology Research Center; Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at Meharry Medical College; Operation Reach Out South West-OROSW; and Nora, LLC.
The HCHDS is designated as a National Comprehensive Center of Excellence in Health Disparities by the NCMHD of the National Institutes of Health.
The Disparities Solutions Center is dedicated to exploring the “place-based” factors that contribute to disparities in health, healthcare use and healthcare outcomes. Our studies seek to identify and promulgate policies, practices, and programs that can reduce disparities and promote health equity.
Our faculty focuses on the health and healthcare needs of vulnerable populations, including racial and ethnic minorities, persons of low socioeconomic status, sexual and gender minorities and persons residing in rural areas. The Disparities Solutions Center conducts national observational studies and evaluates community-based intervention. Promoting health equity is an important value that should be considered in every decision made in our healthcare and public health systems.
We invite you to join this effort.
Take Care,
Darrell J. Gaskin, PhD MS
Richardson Professor and Director
