Health Outcomes in a Foreign Land

This stimulating volume uses multiple lenses to analyze the complex causes of health disparities affecting minorities, in particular African Americans, and explains how this knowledge can be used to reduce their destructive effects. Pinpointing genetic, non-genetic, and epigenetic factors underlying health conditions common to the populationincluding heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and cancerthe author traces intricate links among these factors in the current environmental and social context. The section on non-genetic factors in health disparities, such as social determinants and health behaviors, adds depth to the ongoing discourse on public health and health policy objectives. And the chapters on gene/environment interactions outline the vast potential for developing new multidisciplinary frontiers in shrinking health inequities and personalizing care.

Included in the coverage:

• The African diaspora and disease-specific disparities

• The genetic basis to health disparities

• The role of epigenetics

• Economic factors and health

• Psychological issues and how they affect disparities
• Gene-environment interactions in health disparities

• Race, a biological or social concept Compelling and accessible, Health Outcomes in a Foreign Land will challenge and inspire medical students, epidemiologists, public health professionals, biomedical research scientists, and social scientists to go farther in their work. A wider audience would include policymakers, government officials, nurses, physicians, lawyers, economists, community outreach investigators, and interested general readers.

  Is a one-of-a-kind book in presenting a link between epigenetic and environmental interaction in understanding health disparities among the African diaspora Discusses multiple ways in which environmental factors can influence health outcomes and reduce risk for different types of diseases Also discusses how the knowledge of genetic variance in different populations can be explored as biomarkers for disease detection and in precision medicine Aims to increase understanding of how environmental factors can influence gene expression and health outcomes in different racial and ethnic populations Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

  Autorentext
  Bernard Kwabi-Addo, PhD, is an associate professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and the Principal Investigator of the Prostate Cancer Research Laboratory at Howard University in Washington, D.C., and an adjunct associate professor of Oncology at Johns Hopkins Medical School in Baltimore, Maryland. His research work included receptor tyrosine kinase signaling in prostate cancer. More recently, Dr. Kwabi-Addo is investigating the role of epigenetic changes in prostate cancer etiology/progression with an emphasis on understanding the contribution of epigenetic changes as well as gene-environmental interaction in cancer disparities.
  Dr. Kwabi-Addo graduated from Queen Mary and Westfield College at University of London (where he received a PhD studying site-directed gene targeting in mammalian cells using the bacteriophage Cre-loxP recombination system as a tool) and University College London in England, and University of Dundee in Scotland. Hetrained at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, in cancer biology, specifically in prostate cancer research. Dr. Kwabi-Addo has published scientific articles in journals including Nature Genetics, PNAS, Cancer Research, Prostate, and Epigenetics. His book, Cancer Causes and Controversies: Understanding Risk Reduction and Prevention, was published by Praeger in 2011. He lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Gertrude, a financial analyst, and their three sons, Benjamin, Joshua, and David.

  Inhalt
  Preface.- Acknowledgments.- Chapter 1: Introduction: Disease-specific disparities of the African diaspora.- Part 1: Genetic Factors.- Chapter 2: The genetic basis to health disparity.- Chapter 3: The role of epigenetics.- Part 2: Non-Genetic Elements.- Chapter 4: Economic factors and health.- Chapter 5: Social determinants.- Chapter 6: Behavior and health disparities.- Chapter 7: Health literacy deficits.- Chapter 8: The impact of culture.- Chapter 9: Psychological issues and how they affect disparities.- Part 3: Gene-Environment Interactions.- Chapter 10: Gene-environment interactions in health disparities.- Chapter 11: Race, a biological or social concept.- Chapter 12: Translating health disparities.- Glossary of Terms.- Index.- About the Author.