The research training and focus for our residents are designed to provide tools that enable continued scholarship, regardless of the career path they choose. Our curriculum includes formulating a research question, research methodologies, design, and mentorship from experienced faculty with numerous publications. The population we serve faces health disparities and deserves patient-centered, quality healthcare. Residents are guided on how to study a topic, and many have achieved success through quality improvement and patient safety projects, topic reviews, and publications in peer-reviewed journals.
Dr. Bazargan, the lead research mentor for the residency, is the principal investigator for CRECD, a training grant (R25) funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. The goal of the training program is to provide education and mentoring in health disparities and community-partnered research (CPPR) to minority scholars and junior faculty at CDU, who have demonstrated great academic potential but still need advanced skills, close mentorship, and other support to become successful, independent scientists.
Promoting Vaccination in Public Housing Sites Program is funded by NIMHD-NIH it is designed to address COVID-19 vaccination challenges among low-income African American and Latinx residents in Public Housing Areas (PHAs) of South Los Angeles. Using a community-driven approach, the program brings together local residents, nursing students, and public health students from Charles Drew University (CDU) to form teams that will work directly with the community.
These teams are matched by race, ethnicity, and language to ensure they can effectively engage with residents. The goal is to improve vaccine acceptance by understanding and addressing personal, family, and cultural concerns.
The program includes two main parts:
Community Engagement: Town halls to answer questions and build trust within the community.
Personalized Support: One-on-one guidance for individuals who still hesitate to get vaccinated, with a focus on culturally and linguistically appropriate communication.
ACTIVATE seeks to promote vaccine confidence and improve public health in underserved communities.
Promoting Community-Based Aging Research among Community College Students
Program is a NIA-NIH funded program collaboration between CDU and the University of California at Los Angeles designed to connect URM community college students to a network of researchers and community faculty to develop their interest and ability to participate in aging research.
Other Research Topic Areas:
Sports Medicine Research
BIPOC Provider Wellness
HIV Testing and Research
Geriatric Health Disparities
Complexity of medication regime and management of chronic conditions among underserved minority populations
Adhering to medication regime among individuals experiencing homelessness
Promoting telehealth utilization among underserved populations
Mobile Health Outreach Program (MoHOP)
Established in 1991 in response to Los Angeles County’s HIV/AIDS epidemic, MoHOP was the first mobile HIV testing program in Los Angeles County. From 1992 to 1996, it served over 5,000 homeless street youth in Hollywood and established an HIV sero-prevalence rate of 10%. To date, MoHOP has provided free HIV screening for over 60,000 Angelenos. Redesigned in January 2020, the program expanded to provide primary care services to uninsured individuals, particularly those experiencing homelessness.
The Mobile Street Medicine Program partnered with federally qualified health centers including Kedren Health during the COVID-19 pandemic to offer culturally responsive primary and preventive care to under-resourced communities in South Los Angeles, addressing barriers like time constraints, transportation, and linguistic sensitivity. Initially, in 1991, the MoHOP Project was funded by the Magic Johnson Foundation and the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Over the past thirty-three years it has been sustained via public and private sector funding.
Since 2020, the program has been funded by the following partners: CVS Health, The Bloomberg Foundation, and the State of California Department of Public Health’s Test to Treat Initiative. In 2023, it received a million-dollar grant from the City of Los Angeles to conduct community outreach in the LA Repair Zone over a 12-month period beginning in the fall of 2024.
Since April 2021, the program has:
Completed 400+ mobile deployments
Delivered over 26,000 COVID-19 vaccinations
Held 500+ health screening fairs
Administered 1,200+ Monkeypox vaccines
Program Outcomes
Increase patient trust in healthcare systems by connecting individuals to treatment for undiagnosed or underdiagnosed conditions, increasing primary care enrollments for unhoused populations, and fostering patient involvement in care plans.
Remove barriers to care by providing services directly to people where they live, work, and go to school, thus improving patient retention and interaction.
Fill service gaps by offering culturally responsive care, expanding access to primary and mental health services, and reducing emergency room usage.
Community-Focused Approach to Integrating Behavioral Health into Primary Care
Our Community-Focused Mental and Behavioral Health Training Program is an HRSA funded training program that equips residents to treat children, adolescents, and young adults facing mental health challenges, with a focus on those affected by trauma. Our partnerships with integrated behavioral health clinics, juvenile justice programs, and schools provide residents with real-world experience.
By focusing on trauma-informed care, ACEs, and SUDs, we prepare residents to address the unique needs of underserved populations while delivering culturally and linguistically competent care.
Through this program, CDU is fostering a new generation of physicians who will champion mental and behavioral health care in primary care settings, improving outcomes in communities that need it most.
Goals
The program integrates behavioral health into primary care with the following goals:
Foundational Knowledge (Year 1): Introduce residents to child and adolescent mental health, substance use disorder (SUD) treatment, and wellness strategies.
Applied Knowledge (Year 2): Residents gain hands-on experience through clinical rotations in community settings, learning to identify, diagnose, and treat mental health conditions.
Mastery (Year 3): Residents demonstrate leadership and mastery, applying their expertise to teach others.
This approach emphasizes social justice, health equity, and ensuring access to mental health care in historically marginalized communities.
The Cynthia Davis Lifelong Learning Institute for Community Transformation
The Cynthia Davis Lifelong Learning Institute is a joint program with COSH. It was established in 2017 to coordinate community service programming within the “Institute” and provide opportunities for undergraduate and graduate level students enrolled in COSH to complete their community service hours under the mentorship of Professor Davis who has developed and implemented numerous community service programs over the past forty years in South Los Angeles.
These programs include MoHOP and The Dolls of Hope Project, where handmade cloth dolls are made by volunteers and disseminated to agencies. working with children in need, seven community gardens throughout South Los Angels, HIV screening programs located in South Los Angeles as well as Skid row, and Urban farming project in partnership with a local Church. Two international projects, one in the Dominica Republic and one in Kenya, working with NGOs to service at-risk youth.
