January 8, 2007
NIH Supports Heart Disease Study in Miami
University of Miami and the Miami Museum of Science collaborate on a ground breaking educational research project
CORAL GABLES, FL. (Jan. 9, 2007) – The National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), announced it will provide a $1.3 million Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA) to fund Heart Smart, a University of Miami and Miami Museum of Science & Planetarium collaborative program. The project is designed to inform the public about cardiovascular disease, foster science literacy, and encourage students to consider careers in the health sciences.
The grant supports the development of a hands-on traveling exhibit, with complementary classroom, and web-based resources aimed at raising awareness about cardiovascular disease risk factors, and strategies for reducing these risks and improving personal health. Visitors to the exhibit will learn about heart disease and how to measure individual disease indicators. Data collected from visitors will help scientists to better understand heart disease and overall cardiovascular health. The project will break new ground by demonstrating how an urban science museum, in collaboration with a research university, can serve as an environment for not only communicating, but also for conducting, scientific research.
“Students will have the opportunity to participate in scientific research while learning about cardiovascular health,” said Judy Brown, Ed.D., director of the Miami Museum of Science’s Center for Interactive Learning. “We are very interested in determining how science museums can play an increased role in helping the public interpret research.”
“This project accomplishes two important missions: to educate the community about cardiovascular disease and to collect data to further study the disease, its manifestations and associated risk factors,” said Dr. Patrice Saab, associate professor of psychology in the UM Department of Psychology and Project Co-PI. “Museum patrons represent a richly diverse demographic that is not easy to obtain by more traditional research approaches.”
Heart Smart will highlight the distribution of cardiovascular risk factors across Miami-Dade County's diverse population, communicate the range of disorders associated with the risk factors, including obesity, diabetes, and coronary disease, and communicate the critical importance of controlling cardiovascular risk through nutrition, activity, and stress management.
Besides raising awareness about this public health challenge, the university and the museum also will conduct a health education study to assess the effectiveness of a museum-based informal learning curriculum and its impact on student knowledge and behavior. The study will build on previous University of Miami research that shows a high prevalence of adolescents with elevated blood pressure and attendant risk factors. The health education project will explore the extent to which 10th graders engaging in an enhanced museum experience and playing a "cardiovascular debate game" display greater gains in cardiovascular health knowledge and improvements in behavior than their peers.
“These programs reach out to students and their families, and target some of the most important issues in medicine today such as ethics, evidence-based medicine, and bioinformatics,” said Barbara M. Alving, M.D., acting director of NCRR. “We also want to show students that they have the opportunity to envision careers in medicine, clinical research, drug discovery, and the basic sciences.”
The Center for Interactive Learning (CIL), a collaboration between the Miami Museum of Science and the University of Miami, was established in 2006 to begin the planning and innovative design of interactive learning environments and programming for the new Miami Science Museum to be located in Bicentennial Park in downtown Miami. The long-term goal is to create a jointly administered Center within the new Museum that will further our understanding of how people learn while increasing the public's understanding of research.
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About the University of Miami
The University of Miami is the largest private research institution in the southeastern United States. The University’s mission is to provide quality education, attract and retain outstanding students, support the faculty and their research, and build an endowment for University initiatives. http://www.miami.edu/
About the Miami Museum of Science & Planetarium
The Miami Museum of Science & Planetarium, founded in 1949, is accredited by the American Museum of Museums and is an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institute. The Museum hosts exhibits on topics ranging from the environment, sciences to cultural heritage, and is home to South Florida’s largest natural history collection. The 230-seat planetarium holds live star shows and music-filled laser light shows. The Museum’s Wildlife Center and Falcon Batchelor Bird of Prey Center are dedicated to the ecological stability, rehabilitation and release of injured raptors and other wildlife.
About NCRR
NCRR provides laboratory scientists and clinical researchers with the environments and tools they need to understand, detect, treat, and prevent a wide range of diseases. With this support, scientists make biomedical discoveries, translate these findings to animal-based studies, and then apply them to patient-oriented research. Ultimately, these advances result in cures and treatments for both common and rare diseases. NCRR also connects researchers with one another, and with patients and communities across the nation. These connections bring together innovative research teams and the power of shared resources, multiplying the opportunities to improve human health. For more information, visit http://www.ncrr.nih.gov .
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Media Contact:
Annie Reisewitz
a.reisewitz@miami.edu
305-284-1601
