Native and rural communities in Montana suffer from severe health disparities. The mission of the Center for American Indian and Rural Health Equity (CAIRHE) is to reduce health disparities across the state through community-based participatory research that is considerate of and consistent with local cultures.

Between 2014 and 2024, CAIRHE supported multiple research projects each year through its Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health. Descriptions of those completed projects can be found under Other CAIRHE Investigators. Other research may be sponsored by HOPE & CAIRHE 2gether (HC2), CAIRHE's affiliated center co-led by the Center for HOPE at the Huntsman Cancer Institute of the University of Utah. And some of our faculty have achieved independent investigator status through major external grant funding, from NIH and other agencies, for projects that have emerged from previous CAIRHE support. They now lead these studies as principal investigators affiliated with CAIRHE. For more about each project, click on the links below.

 

Tomayko

Research Project

Reach Through Equitable Implementation: Turtle Island Tales

Principal Investigator Emily Tomayko, Ph.D.
MSU Department of Food Systems, Nutrition & Kinesiology
Beth Rink

Independent Project

Nen ŨnkUmbi/EdaHiYedo (“We Are Here Now”) (NIH, R01MD012761)
2018-2024

Principal Investigator Elizabeth Rink, Ph.D., MSW
MSU Department of Human Development & Community Health
Vanessa Simonds

Independent Project

Guardians of the Living Water: Advancing Informal STEM Learning in a Tribal Community (NSF, 2006031)
2020-2024

Principal Investigator Vanessa Simonds, Sc.D.
MSU Department of Human Development & Community Health
Monica Skewes

Independent Project

Randomized Controlled Trial of Indigenous Recovery Planning for American Indians (NIH, R01DA053791)
2021-2026

Principal Investigator Monica Skewes, Ph.D.
MSU Department of Psychology
Neha John-Henderson

Independent Project

Social Connectedness and Health in the Blackfeet Community: An Investigation of Biopsychosocial Mediators (NIH, R01MD015894)
2021-2025

Principal Investigator Neha John-Henderson, Ph.D.
MSU Department of Psychology
Neha John-Henderson

Independent Project

Trauma and Cardiometabolic Health in an American Indian Community (NIH, R01HL163237)
2023-2028

Principal Investigator Neha John-Henderson, Ph.D.
MSU Department of Psychology
(with Annie Ginty, Ph.D., Baylor University)