Doctor consoling patient

Research

The Center for Health Disparities Research (CHDR) is based in Charleston, SC, at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), the state’s only academic health science center. Most of CHDR’s investigators also teach at the university.

We work with many partners to improve outcomes for people with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other challenges.

CHDR Focus Areas

Our research focuses on health equity, access to care, rural health, and telehealth. Many of our studies take place in South Carolina, including an innovative diabetes telehealth project.

  • Health equity – Reduce disparities through development and testing of patient, provider, and system-level interventions. Focus is to improve equity in health care across all races, ethnicities, genders, geographic areas, and socioeconomic levels using patient-centered and culturally tailored interventions.
  • Access to care – Increase access to care by developing interventions that address the geographical, temporal, financial, cultural, and digital dimensions and take individuals’ perceptions of care and their perceived need for care into account. Focus will be on innovative strategies using telehealth and other resources that increase access to high-quality care.
  • Rural health – Improve health outcomes among rural individuals through understanding and addressing barriers to care. Focus will be on increasing the role of technology and expanding the health care system to meet the needs of rural and minority individuals.
  • Telehealth – Improve the health of South Carolinians in some of the most rural and underserved regions of the state.