ROCHESTER, Minn. – Mayo Clinic is teaming up with the University of Minnesota to address the effects of racism on heart health.

The organizations are leading a new research center, The Center for Chronic Disease Reduction and Equity Promotion Across Minnesota (C2DREAM), evaluating possible interventions to reduce structural and interpersonal racism as a fundamental cause of heart health disparities among people of color in the North Star State.

Mayo Clinic says people of color in Minnesota experience some of the worst health disparities in the country, particularly when it comes to cardiovascular disease and related conditions. Research done by C2DREAM will focus on addressing unmet patient needs and disparities in heart health experienced by people in communities of color, including immigrants and refugees across Minnesota.

“Racism is a fundamental cause of health inequities in Minnesota. Working together, C2DREAM will study and confront the complex, multidimensional ways racism impacts chronic disease for Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) communities, says Rachel Hardeman, Ph.D., founding director of the University of Minnesota Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity, associate professor in the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, and co-principal investigator for C2DREAM.

Funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, C2DREAM will conduct research for five years, including “clinical studies and primary care approaches to diet, physical activity, smoking cessation and other factors.”

Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota will be joined by partners across the region, including Hennepin Healthcare, Native American Community Clinic, and the Rand Corp. You can learn more about the C2DREAM initiative by following this link.