The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health awarded UT San Antonio a $44 million contract to research health challenges in the rural South. The Risk Underlying Rural Areas Longitudinal Cohort Study uses a mobile examination unit carrying advanced clinical and imaging technology to travel to rural counties to study the health of residents in less-populated areas of the south. The project’s goal is to understand the reason why rural communities in the South have higher rates of heart, lung, blood and sleep-related diseases. UT San Antonio’s contract will fund two separate exams for rural residents.
During Exam 1, which is the first phase of examinations, the RURAL Cohort Study’s Mobile Examination Unit saw 4,600 residents in 10 rural counties in Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi to record gaps in healthcare in the Southeast U.S. The results from these examinations will guide future programs dedicated to improving the health of these communities.
The second phase of the study, Exam 2, involves re-examining 4,000 residents that took part in the RURAL Cohort Study. This phase of the study will measure the changes in the health of the participants over time. Interactions of environmental, behavioral, biological and social factors and their influences on heart and lung disease risk will also be studied.
An in-person visit to the MEU takes approximately three and a half hours. It includes examinations of an individual’s vital signs, height and weight, a blood draw, tests of heart, lung and blood vessel health and an interview regarding the patient’s lifestyle and health history.
The project aims to close the gap in research for rural Americans’ health. According to Ovatian Healthcare, one in six Americans live in rural areas; yet, these communities face a severe lack of healthcare providers, with 68 per 100,000 people, compared to urban communities’ 80 per 100,000. Additionally, rural areas suffer from several other issues, such as higher numbers of uninsured individuals residing outside of urban areas. In rural communities, specialty and subspecialty healthcare services tend to be unavailable, access to public health services is limited and transportation is unreliable due to long distances and poor road conditions.
The study will be led by the UT San Antonio Kate Marmion School of Public Health Dean Vasan Ramachandran, M.D., and University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Suzanne Judd, Ph.D. The RURAL Cohort Study team will be composed of researchers from 16 universities across the U.S. Ramachandran further detailed what the study is in a UT Health San Antonio article.
“The RURAL Cohort Study takes the science to the people,” Ramachandran stated. “This award allows work to continue generating actionable knowledge that can improve prevention, treatment and long-term health outcomes for rural populations that have too often been overlooked in scientific studies”
The $44 million contract with the NHLBI comes as UT San Antonio plans to become a top 20 research institution and health system. Currently, the university is considered a Tier One Research institution in the U.S., producing “very high research spending and doctorate production.” UT San Antonio announced in early April that the university would begin an initiative to start UT San Antonio’s path to becoming a “world class” university.
The contract will run for five years. The RURAL Cohort Study Exam 2 is scheduled to begin in January 2027.
