Three projects have been selected for funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as part of the Collaborative Research Center for American Indian Health (CRCAIH) and its pilot grants program.

The following projects were selected for funding:

• Sara DeCoteau, BA, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation, Human Services/Division of Health Services and Bonny Specker, PhD, South Dakota State University, Ethel Austin Martin Program
  Project: Pregnancy Health Survey for Parents of Newborns on the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation
• Amanda Fretts, PhD, University of Washington, School of Public Health
  Project: Healthy Food Healthy Families Feasibility Study
• Tai Mendenhall, PhD, University of Minnesota, Family Social Sciences and Kathy Denman-Wilke, MEd, St. Paul Area Council of Churches, Department of Indian Work
  Project: East-Metro American Indian Diabetes Initiative: An Evaluation of Innovative Community-based Programs to Improve the Health of Native Men and Youth

The CRCAIH’s pilot grant program, now in its third year, was created to fund cutting-edge transdisciplinary research addressing health disparities experienced by American Indians in South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota.

Sanford Research and a broad base of partners in 2012 received a $13.5 million grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Disparities to create the CRCAIH. The research center has now supported a total of 13 pilot grant awards across the region to explore how social determinants of health impact American Indians.

The pilot projects were selected based on five major scoring criteria, including purpose, priorities and significance; scientific approach; innovation and potential for future funding; investigators and environment; and collaborative relationships. Researchers from the first round of pilot grants awarded in 2013 presented their findings in a spring seminar series at Sanford and the CRCAIH Annual Summit this past June in Rapid City.