Special Collection: Improving Care for Veterans Through Health Equity Research

The Veterans Health Administration is an integrated health care system that cares for more than 9 million enrolled Veterans spread out across 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and the Philippines. They are a diverse group of people who come from many different communities, religions, and cultures. Despite their diversity, Veterans share one common denominator: their commitment to service.

As a health care and research institution, we are equally dedicated to service.

The VA Office of Research and Development is a robust research enterprise that has more than 100 active research sites across the United States and maintains multiple affiliations with world-class research institutions. Because of this, we are uniquely positioned to promote research that will benefit Veterans and other individuals from minority and underrepresented backgrounds.

We are deeply committed to better understanding and addressing health disparities in underrepresented groups like racial minorities and women Veterans. To support this goal, we have undertaken several initiatives to foster health equity research in VA. They include dedicated funding to support early career investigators from minority and disadvantaged backgrounds; mentored research experiences to promote diversity in our workforce; and a summer research program that offers research experiences to students (medical and secondary schools) from underrepresented backgrounds. We also have prioritized building research partnerships with investigators from minority-serving institutions.

I am proud to say we are making a difference, one individual at a time. From Grace Hodge, an inspiring young scientist who participated in VA’s summer research program at the Asheville VA Medical Center, to Dr. Olamide Alabi, a vascular surgeon at the Atlanta VA, who is working to eliminate health disparities for people of color with vascular disease.

In the spirit of these accomplishments, we are pleased to share 13 articles that discuss issues vital to the Veterans we serve – they range from breast cancer prevention to the inclusion of women in genetic research to promoting health equity within VA. These articles represent the work of many of our finest VA researchers; work that is undertaken to advance health equity for all Veterans.

I hope you enjoy reading this special edition of Health Equity as much as I have.

Dr. Carolyn M. Clancy, MACP
Assistant Under Secretary for Health
Discovery, Education, and Affiliate Networks Department of Veterans Affairs