OVERALL PROJECT ABSTRACT The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) will effectively contribute to the elimination of health inequalities among minority populations by addressing Structural Violence, one of the major root causes of health disparities. Structural Violence refers to the multiple ways in which social, economic, and political systems expose particular populations to risks leading to increased morbidity and mortality. The Center assembles investigators from six UIC units: School of Public Health, College of Medicine, UI Health Cancer Center, College of Nursing, the Institute for Minority Health Research, and the Office of Community Engagement and Neighborhood- Health Partnerships, and the University of Chicago's Center for Asian Health Equity to develop multidisciplinary and multi-level research. CHER is led by under-represented minorities (URM) investigators (including fully bilingual, English/Spanish) with expertise on health disparities and community engagement. UIC is an R1 Minority Serving Institution and Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution, situated in the heart of Chicago, with a long-standing mission of social justice and civic engagement. The overall goal of CHER is to advance the science of health disparities by examining the ways in which Structural Violence contributes to such disparities among African American, Latino, and Asian American (and their intersecting sexual minority) populations. The Specific aims include: Aim 1. Strengthening institutional and investigators' capacity to pursue health disparities research on Structural Violence (Administrative Core). Aim 2. Provide career development opportunities to junior faculty, post-doctoral trainees, and new investigators, especially URM (Administrative and Investigator Development Core) Aim 3. Stimulate and enhance the production of publications and grant applications in Structural Violence as a root cause of health inequalities (Investigator Development Core and Research Projects). Aim 4. Support transdisciplinary and multi-level research on the pathways between Structural Violence and health inequalities (Investigator Development Core and Research Projects). Aim 5. Facilitate and strengthen community partnerships for the support of engaged scholarship and the dissemination and translation of research (Community Engagement Core). CHER consists of three Cores and three research projects: Community stressors and racial disparities in colorectal cancer risk; Intergenerational transmission of racialized stress and cardiovascular disease risk in Latino families; and Exposure to violence, trauma, resilience, and mental health in South East Asian immigrants.

OVERALL NARRATIVE The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) will effectively contribute to the elimination of health inequalities among minority populations by addressing Structural Violence, one of the major root causes of health disparities. Structural Violence refers to the multiple ways in which social, economic, and political systems expose particular populations to risks leading to increased morbidity and mortality. The overall goal of CHER is to advance the science of health disparities by examining the ways in which Structural Violence contributes to such disparities among African American, Latino, and Asian American (and their Intersecting sexual minority) populations.