INTRODUCTION

During the past three years, the Urban Health Institute at Harlem Hospital Center has functioned as a multi disciplinary program of medical effectiveness and outcomes research and as a resource for dissemination of information, for technical assistance and training of developing and established outcomes researchers, as well as members of the academic and lay communities interested in medical effectiveness research. The Institute's research efforts have ranged from synthesis and analysis of the literature regarding the major health problems of urban African Americans to studies of variations in treatment for specific diseases, analysis of secondary data sources and primary data collection to determine which methods are most effective and are most likely to lead to favorable patient outcomes, such as improved health status, functional status, quality of life and absence of disease. The Institute has made significant progress toward its goal of becoming a community, local, regional and national resource, a clearing house for data on minority health, and a source of information for a better understanding of what health care practices are effective in improving the health status of urban African Americans. We encourage interested individuals and organizations to participate in these efforts by exchanging ideas and findings that may help improve the health status of individuals in urban minority populations.

The Institute continues to study medical conditions that are of special concern to African Americans, with major emphasis on research on hypertension and heart disease, tuberculosis and AIDS, clinical practice variations, maternal health and teenage pregnancy.

Send your E-mail comments and /or suggestions to: rh42@columbia.edu Last Updated: 18 March 1997.

Staff