The DJH Foundation donated to the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center to establish a program that will provide mobile research capabilities throughout the state. The funds donated by the DJH Foundation will go toward the purchase of a Mobile Metabolic Research Unit (MMRU). The program is part of the research with the Harold Hamm Oklahoma Diabetes Center.
The mobile unit will travel the state to conduct clinical research studies that will examine the root causes of obesity and diabetes in children.
Data will be used to develop preventive strategies for children in rural areas which include Native American children who are at increased risk for developing these diseases.
“We are very familiar with how difficult it is to include children in rural areas in medical research projects. And as a member of the Cherokee Nation, I am also very familiar with how many Native American children living in rural Oklahoma are impacted by diseases such as diabetes and asthma,” Joyce Harvey, Co-President, DJH Foundation said.
Steve Chernausek, Professor of Pediatrics CMRI Edith Kinney Gaylord Chair and Director, CMRI Diabetes & Metabolic Research Program at the OU Health Sciences Center added, “The clinical and research programs within the section of Pediatric Endocrinology are focused on the special propensity of Native American children to develop diabetes. We know that more than one in three will develop diabetes and that this will have major impact on their health and longevity. We believe that research can lead to better treatments and prevention methods in children."
Dr. Chernausek says rural facilities are not conducive to testing and research projects and children in rural areas which are most affected by diseases don’t have access to state of the art research equipment at the OU Health Sciences Center.
For the past 9 years, clinicians have traveled weekly around the state to care for children with diabetes. However, it has been difficult to conduct the complex diabetes and obesity research trials at many remote locations around the state.
“While our research uses some of the most state of the art equipment, this equipment is located at our OKC research center and therefore difficult to access for many Native Americans living outside the OKC metro area,” said Dr. Chernausek. “That is why the MMRU is critical to our research efforts.”
A large RV will contain equipment that measures multiple indices of metabolic health, including:
- a DXA scanner (body composition measure)
- metabolic cart (energy expenditure)
- pulse wave analysis device (arterial elasticity as a marker of blood vessel health)
- and supplies for blood sampling and storage of samples
The MMRU will go to tribal and other rural health centers to include children living in more remote areas of Oklahoma in our research studies in childhood diabetes and obesity.
“To include this underserved group of children in our research program we must reach out to them with a fully equipped state of the art mobile unit in which complex and relevant clinical research studies might be conducted. This research will provide insight into the root causes and progression of obesity, insulin resistance, glucose intolerance, and Type 2 Diabetes.”