Thomas awarded AHRQ grant for dissertation research on diabetes
October 30, 2018
Tainayah Thomas
Tainayah Thomas, doctoral candidate in health behavior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health, has received a grant from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Health Services Research Dissertation Program (R36) to fund her dissertation research, “Mixed Method Approach to Examine Prediabetes Screening, Follow-up Care and Guideline Implementation.”
Thomas, who also is a predoctoral fellow at the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research, is interested in the study of diabetes prevention and management, men’s health and health disparities. Her award of $18,162 is for a one-year period ending Oct. 31, 2019.
Prediabetes continues to be underdiagnosed and untreated. In North Carolina, it is estimated that 33 percent of adults have prediabetes, while only 9 percent report having been given a diagnosis. Diabetes prevalence among black women and men is 15 percent and 12.3 percent, respectively, compared to a statewide prevalence of 10.9 percent.
Thomas’ study is a secondary analysis of UNC-Chapel Hill electronic health record data, accompanied by primary, qualitative data collection through in-depth interviews with primary care clinicians and patients with prediabetes.
Contact the Gillings School of Global Public Health communications team at sphcomm@listserv.unc.edu.
