University of Illinois at Chicago

University of Illinois at Chicago

The University of Illinois at Chicago, or UIC, is a state-funded public research university located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side, community area, near the Loop. It is the second member of the University of Illinois system and is the largest university in the Chicago area, with approximately 26,000 students enrolled in 15 colleges. UIC operates the nation’s largest medical school, with research expenditures exceeding $340 million and consistently in the top 50 US institutions for research expenditures.

The University of Illinois at Chicago has ranked (most recently in 2003) within the 100 best universities in the world out of 500 institutions compared in the Academic Ranking of World Universities. UIC plays a leadership role in Illinois healthcare, operating the state’s major public medical center and serves as the principal educator for Illinois’ physicians, dentists, pharmacists, nurses and other healthcare professionals.
UIC competes in NCAA Division I Horizon League as the UIC Flames in sports. The UIC Pavilion is home to all UIC Flames basketball games. It also serves as a venue for concerts.

University of Illinois at Chicago Rankings in 2010

• BIO CHEMICAL / BIOENGINEERING GRADUATE SCHOOL RANKING
• TOP 100 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING GRADUATE SCHOOL RANKING IN 2010
• BEST UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY RANKING
• TOP 100 FINE ARTS COLLEGE RANKING IN 2010
• TOP 100 NURSING GRADUATE SCHOOL RANKING IN 2009
• ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING GRADUATE SCHOOL RANKINGS

University of Illinois at Chicago Rankings in 2011

• TOP 100 LAW SCHOOLS IN 2011
• BEST BUSINESS GRADUATE SCHOOL RANKING IN 2011
• TOP 100 GRADUATE COMPUTER ENGINEERING SCHOOL RANKINGS IN 2011
• POLITICAL SCIENCE GRADUATE COLLEGE RANKINGS IN 2011
• WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS IN 2011-2012
• 2011-2012 TOP 200 COLLEGES IN UNITED STATES
•  TOP ENGINEERING GRADUATE SCHOOLS RANKING IN 2011-2012
• TOP 30 PHARMACY SCHOOL RANKINGS IN U.S.
• 2011 TOP PUBLIC COLLEGE & UNIVERSITY RANKINGS IN UNITED STATES
• BEST LAW SCHOOL RANKING FOR HIRING BY THE NATION’S LARGEST LAW FIRMS

University of Illinois at Chicago Tuition and Fees

Schools and Colleges of University of Illinois at Chicago

University of Illinois at Chicago News

• Chicago Police Cameras More Effective When Clustered, Study Says - Mon, 14 May 2012
  Chicago's network of police cameras is more effective at reducing crime in high-crime areas than in low-crime areas, according to a new study.
  
  The report, co-authored by Rajiv Shah, University of Illinois at Chicago adjunct assistant professor of communication, suggests that blue-light cameras should be concentrated in high-crime areas rather than spread throughout a city.
  
  This "hotspot" approach differs from the way cameras are used in many cities, says Shah, who studies legal and policy implications of communication technologies.
  
  "The idea championed by former mayor Richard Daley of placing a camera on every corner results in the vast majority of those cameras having little or no impact on reducing crime," he said.
  
  Shah and co-author Jeremy Braithwaite, a doctoral student at the University of California-Irvine, analyzed two previous studies -- one by students at Northwestern University and the other by the Chicago Police Department -- that investigated the effectiveness of Chicago's surveillance network.
  
  Their analysis indicates that the initial crime level of an area where a camera was placed had a significant effect on the camera's overall impact. Cameras in high-crime areas were associated with large reductions in crimes, while medium- to low-crime areas experienced minimal change.
  
  "Diffusing a large number of cameras throughout a city does not appear to be effective in reducing crime," Shah said. "Instead, the targeted use of a smaller number of cameras in high-crime areas is much more effective."
  
  The researchers offer three possible explanations for the findings:
  -High-crime areas are likely to have increased police presence and additional strategies at work.
  -Cameras in high-crime areas are more likely to be monitored at all times.
  -The apparent drop in crime in high-crime areas could be partly due to "regression to the mean" -- a statistical effect in which first measurements are extreme and the second measurement tends to be closer to the average.
  
  The researchers describe the impact of surveillance in high-crime areas as the "catalyst effect" of cameras.
  
  "The act of placing cameras in high-crime areas pushes the police to focus their efforts in these areas, thus reducing crime," Shah said.
  
  Further research with experimental controls will be needed to separate out the effects of other policing efforts and to isolate the catalyst effect of cameras, Shah said. Technological advances may also help measure the benefit that cameras provide.
  
  "Cameras have limitations," Shah said. "They are only as good as their technology and the person watching the camera."
  
  The full report, "Spread Too Thin: Analyzing the Effectiveness of the Chicago Camera Network on Crime," appears in the forthcoming issue of Police Practice and Research: An International Journal.
  
  UIC ranks among the nation's leading research universities and is Chicago's largest university with 27,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world. For more information about UIC, please visit www.uic.edu.
  
  [Shah photo: newsphoto.lib.uic.edu/v/shah/.]

• Four UIC Students Win Brundage Scholarships - Wed, 9 May 2012
  Fourteen University of Illinois students from the Chicago, Springfield and Urbana-Champaign campuses have been awarded Avery Brundage Scholarships for excellence in academics and athletics.
  
  Each winner will receive a $2,500 award for the 2012-2013 academic year.
  
  The four recipients from UIC, their areas of study and sports are: (EDITORS: See list.)
  
  The Avery Brundage Scholarship Fund Committee, composed of nine representatives from the faculties and student bodies of all three campuses, selects students who engage in athletics for personal development, not as preparation for professional sports. In addition, the students must be working toward bachelor's, master's, or doctoral degrees at the University of Illinois and must be in the top 25 percent of their undergraduate class or in good academic standing in their graduate program.
  
  The scholarship program was established in 1974 by an endowment from Avery Brundage, University of Illinois alumnus and former president of the International and U.S. Olympic committees.
  
  CHICAGO -- Christopher Knowlton, Engineering, dance
  
  DEERFIELD -- Lukasz Adamcyzk, Liberal Arts and Sciences, gymnastics
  
  EVANSTON -- Justin Welke, Dentistry, basketball
  
  GALENA, OH –- Abbi Lane, Applied Health Studies, running

• UIC Student Wins State Department Scholarship - Wed, 9 May 2012
  A University of Illinois at Chicago student has won the U.S. State Department's Critical Languages Scholarship for intensive language studies in Turkey this summer.
  
  Hugh Vondracek, a sophomore in the UIC Honors College majoring in political science, received the highly competitive award, which places recipients in a fully-funded 10-week language program featuring cultural enrichment experiences. He will be based in northwest Turkey, where he will study Turkish at the Tömer Institute in Bursa.
  
  Vondracek, who is minoring in international studies, studied in Spain for one year during high school and has extensive language skills in Spanish, German, Italian, and European Portuguese.
  
  In view of Turkey's unique political and geographic position between the East and West, Vondracek believes that building Turkish language skills will bolster his foreign policy credentials.
  
  "Foreign policy has effects on real people," he says of his aspirations in the field. "Making policy that is effective, but that is at the same time just, is something that is lost in policy making."
  
  After graduating from UIC, he plans to pursue a graduate degree and eventually seek a career as a Foreign Service officer working in a consulate or embassy.
  
  Vondracek, a resident of Oak Lawn, Ill., graduated from H.L. Richards High School in 2010.
  
  The Critical Languages Scholarship is part of the National Security Language Initiative, a U.S government interagency effort to increase the number of Americans mastering critical-need languages. Program participants are expected to continue their language study beyond the scholarship and apply their critical language skills in their future professional careers.
  
  UIC ranks among the nation's leading research universities and is Chicago's largest university with 27,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world. For more information about UIC, please visit www.uic.edu.

• UIC Bioengineering Doctoral Student Receives FMC Fellowship - Wed, 9 May 2012
  Christopher Knowlton, a University of Illinois at Chicago doctoral student in bioengineering, is among four University of Illinois Ph.D. students who received $20,000 FMC Technologies, Inc., Fellowships for the 2012-2013 academic year.
  
  Four master’s students will each receive $12,000.
  
  The selection committee included representatives from FMC Technologies, Inc., the University of Illinois, and the U of I Foundation.
  
  The FMC Technologies, Inc., Scholarship Fund, formerly called the FMC Educational Fund, was originally established as the Link-Belt Educational Fund in 1963 with a donation from University of Illinois alumnus Bert A. Gayman. A few years later, Link-Belt merged into the FMC Corporation, which later became FMC Technologies, Inc. Intending to provide education and research opportunities, the fund now provides approximately $360,000 annually for undergraduate scholarships and graduate fellowships at the University of Illinois.
  
  Gayman, a Champaign native who earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois in 1897, spent his entire career with Link-Belt in Chicago and chose to remain an anonymous donor to this educational fund until 1973, a year before his death.

• UIC Institute Funds 17 Studies of Race in Health, Justice, Economics, Education - Wed, 9 May 2012
  Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago will use grants and fellowships from UIC's Institute for Research on Race & Public Policy to conduct 17 year-long studies of racial and ethnic inequalities in health, justice, economics and education. All studies will conclude with reports at the end of the 2012-13 academic year.
  
  HEALTH
  
  Neighborhood Effects on African American Preterm Births. In 2009, African American women had 1.5 times more preterm births than non-Hispanic white women, perhaps because of stress, writes Carmen Giurgescu, assistant professor of family health science. She will explore whether green space moderates the stress of living in poor, violent neighborhoods.
  
  Comfort Food and Depression among African Americans and Latinos. Shannon Zenk, assistant professor of health systems science, says African Americans tend to be less physically healthy than whites, but have lower rates of major depression. Latinos also appear to be at lower risk for depression than whites. Zenk will examine whether energy-dense "comfort" foods buffer the effects of psychosocial stress through the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal/cortical axis, and whether the effects differ by ethnicity.
  
  Ethnic Culture as a Protective Factor against Suicide in African American Women. Suicide has been less common among African Americans than other racial groups, but it is increasing, particularly among young males, says Valerie Borum, assistant professor of social work. Borum will investigate how African American culture may buffer against suicide among African American women.
  
  Advocacy for Change in Sickle Cell Disease Treatment. Sickle cell disease affects 100,000 Americans. Many physicians avoid using opioids to relieve the pain of SCD because they believe SCD patients abuse drugs and exaggerate reports of pain. Miriam Ezenwa, assistant professor of bio-behavioral health sciences, will engage African American adults affected by SCD to pinpoint policy and system barriers to pain treatment.
  
  Obstructive Sleep Apnea in African Americans. Obstructive sleep apnea is under-diagnosed and associated with workplace and traffic accidents, neurocognitive impairment, and cardiovascular disease. African-American ethnicity is a risk factor for earlier, more severe onset. Bharati Prasad, assistant professor of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine, will research a home-based diagnostic test for OSA and the hypothesis that lack of physical activity affects African-Americans at risk for OSA.
  
  SMART Girls Program. Sabine French, assistant professor of psychology, will revise the SMART Girls program of the Roseland/Pullman Boys & Girls Club to improve health, fitness, education and self-esteem among African American girls aged 13-17 in an underserved area. Part one focuses on personal values in dating relationships, date violence and rape, sexual risk-taking, sexual myths and truths, and the physical and emotional changes of adolescence. Part two covers nutrition, cooking skills and fitness.
  
  JUSTICE
  
  Bias-Motivated Crime against Transgender Women of Color. Violence against transgender women of color is often attributed to sexual orientation rather than race or gender, says Paul Schewe, associate research professor of psychology. Schewe and Alicia Matthews, associate professor of nursing, will investigate police classification of crimes against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons in Chicago to determine how it may increase the likelihood of bias-motivated violence against LGBT people.
  
  The Politics of Enclosure in South Africa and Palestine/Israel. The South African elite live behind walls and fences in gated communities, while Israel builds walls and fences to surround Palestinians, says Andy Clarno, visiting assistant professor of African American studies and sociology, who compares the Palestinian enclaves to U.S. prisons. He will analyze the relationships among political and economic restructuring, marginalized populations, and the politics of security.
  
  The Impact of Race and Ethnicity on Release from the Juvenile Justice System. The U.S. Department of Justice mandates that states address disproportionate minority contact with the juvenile system. Christine Martin, assistant professor of criminology, law and justice, will do a comprehensive literature review to determine how ethnicity influences points of release from the Illinois system.
  
  Race, Masculinity and Class Politics in Contemporary Hyderabad. Habshis or Siddis -- people of Abyssinian/Ethiopian heritage who came to India between the ninth and 20th centuries -- were seen as both Indian and African; low-caste and marginalized; hyper-masculine ex-soldiers and asexual eunuchs; and Muslims in a Hindu country, says Gayatri Reddy, associate professor of anthropology and gender and women's studies. She will research their descendants' sense of belonging in Hyderabad, and racial differences in ideas of masculinity, religion and caste politics.
  
  ECONOMICS
  
  Partnering and Parenting Among Newly Middle-Class Latinos in Chicago. The literature on Latinos in the U.S. has focused on the poor and the working class. Lorena Garcia, assistant professor of sociology, will investigate what constitutes middle-class status among Latinos who identify as middle-class, and how class mobility informs their approaches to partnering and parenting.
  
  Racialized Roles in Globalized Corporate Environments. Sharon Collins, associate professor of sociology, used "racialized" to describe jobs in affirmative action and community relations that managed the progress of black people in the 1960s and 1970s. Twenty years ago, she interviewed black executives who benefitted from social protest and federal mandates. She will study achievement among current black executives to determine whether roles are racialized in a global economy.
  
  Ukuphanta: South African Women in the Informal Economy. Ukuphanta is Zulu slang meaning "to get by." It often refers to illegal means of making ends meet, says Claire Decoteau, assistant professor of sociology. In the squatter camps around Johannesburg, she heard it used to refer to transactional sex. Decoteau will explore how African women in post-apartheid South Africa ukuphanta, and thus transform their identities, gender relations and markets.
  
  EDUCATION
  
  Language Ideologies of Teachers in Bilingual Schools. Students learn about language not only in school, but through language itself. Zitali Morales and Victoria Trinder, assistant professor and clinical assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, will investigate beliefs about language among teachers in bilingual school settings and how those beliefs relate to their theories and practices of teaching.
  
  Collaborative Research for Justice in Education in Chicago. Chicago’s Board of Education recently voted to close, phase out and turn around 17 public schools serving low-income African American and Latino students, despite opposition from parents, teachers, students and local residents. Pauline Lipman, professor of educational policy studies, will work with the Kenwood/Oakland Community Organization on a series of policy briefs grounded in the lives of the people affected by this decision.
  
  Training in Social-Emotional Learning. Most students of social work and urban elementary education at UIC are white women preparing to work in schools that are 85 percent African American and Latino. Marisha Humphries and Cassandra McKay, assistant professors of educational psychology and social work, respectively, will develop training to raise awareness of racial inequalities in education; how social-emotional learning and racial identity influence outcomes; and how to support social-emotional development and positive racial identity.
  
  Equity in Inclusive Education. Federico Waitoller, assistant professor of special education, will write on partnerships between schools and universities to improve teachers' and schools' capacity to work with students facing multiple layers of difference; e.g., a Spanish-speaking Latino student identified for special education.
  
  UIC ranks among the nation's leading research universities and is Chicago's largest university with 27,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world.

• Labor Secretary Hilda Solis at UIC Tuesday to Discuss Challenges, Opportunities Facing Grads - Mon, 7 May 2012
  WHAT:
  Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis will sit down with college students and recent graduates at the University of Illinois at Chicago on Tuesday to discuss the challenges and opportunities they face as they enter the workforce.
  
  WHO:
  Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis; Jennifer Woodard, UIC associate vice chancellor for civic and corporate relations; and UIC students and recent graduates.
  
  WHEN:
  Tuesday, May 8
  11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. CDT
  
  WHERE:
  UIC Student Center East
  750 S. Halsted St.
  Cardinal Room, 3rd floor
  
  DETAILS:
  At a time when the unemployment rate for Americans with at least a college degree is about half the national average, advanced education and training have never been more important. However, more than 7.4 million students with federal student loans will see their interest rates double on July 1 unless Congress acts.
  
  As part of a three-city trip, Secretary Solis will have a conversation with these students to learn what the Labor Department can do to help new workers get ahead in today’s modern workforce.
  
  The event is open to the media. Press should notify Scott Allen (312) 353-6976, allen.scott@dol.gov or Mary Brandenberger, (202) 693-4651, brandenberger.mary@dol.gov in the Labor Department’s Office of Public Affairs.

• Commencement at UIC - Tue, 1 May 2012
  Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, bestselling author Alex Kotlowitz, Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Howard K. Koh, and other civic and business leaders are the featured speakers at college commencements at the University of Illinois at Chicago May 2-6.
  
  More than 7,000 students will be honored at ceremonies for 14 colleges.
  
  With 27,500 students, UIC is Chicago's largest university and has the nation's largest medical school. UIC is among the nation's leading universities in federal research funding.
  
  College commencements take place at the UIC Pavilion, 525 S. Racine Ave., and the UIC Forum, 725 W. Roosevelt Road. The schedule is as follows:
  
  • Honors College: May 2, 7 p.m., UIC Forum. Speaker: Dr. David Ansell, vice president for clinical affairs and chief medical officer, Rush University Medical Center.
  
  • Nursing: May 3, 1 p.m., UIC Pavilion. Speaker: Ada Sue Hinshaw, nursing dean, Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences.
  
  • Applied Health Sciences: May 3, 2 p.m., UIC Forum. Speaker: Kenneth Cooper, father of the aerobics movement.
  
  • Education: May 3, 6:30 p.m., UIC Pavilion. Speaker: Carol D. Lee, professor of education and social policy, Northwestern University.
  
  • Pharmacy: May 3, 7:30 p.m., UIC Forum. Speaker: William S. Marth, president and CEO for the Americas, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries.
  
  • Jane Addams College of Social Work: May 4, 9 a.m., UIC Pavilion. Speaker: Mildred Joyner, president of the Council on Social Work Education.
  
  • Urban Planning and Public Affairs: May 4, 10 a.m., UIC Forum. Speaker: Toni Preckwinkle, Cook County Board president.
  
  • Medicine: May 4, 2 p.m., UIC Pavilion. Speaker: Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Howard K. Koh, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
  
  • Public Health: May 4, 3:30 p.m., UIC Forum. Speaker: Alex Kotlowitz, bestselling author of “There Are No Children Here” and producer of the Indie Spirit Awards Best Documentary for 2012, “The Interrupters.”
  
  • Business Administration: May 5, 9 a.m. UIC Pavilion. Speaker: Carl J. Schramm, leading authority on entrepreneurship, innovation and economic growth and co-founder of the Obama administration’s “Start Up America” initiative.
  
  • Dentistry: May 5, 10 a.m., UIC Forum. Speaker: Dean Bruce Graham.
  
  • Engineering: May 5, 2 p.m., UIC Pavilion. Speaker: Glenn Neland, former senior vice president of Dell Worldwide Procurement and Global Experience.
  
  • Architecture and Arts: May 5, 7 p.m., UIC Pavilion. Speaker: Eva Maddox, design principal for branded environments, Eva L. Maddox Associates.
  
  • Liberal Arts and Sciences: May 6, 10 a.m., UIC Pavilion. Speaker: George Crabtree, distinguished professor of physics and electrical and mechanical engineering at UIC and senior scientist and distinguished fellow at Argonne National Laboratory.
  
  LAS is the largest college commencement. About 7,000 graduates and guests are expected to fill the UIC Pavilion to capacity.
  
  For more information about UIC's 2012 commencement ceremonies and receptions, visit www.uic.edu/depts/ovcsa/commencement/index.shtml.

• Two UIC Students Recognized by Goldwater Foundation - Thu, 26 Apr 2012
  Two University of Illinois at Chicago students who plan medical careers have been recognized by the Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence Foundation for their academic achievement.
  
  Wenji Guo, a junior in the UIC Honors College majoring in biological sciences, was named a Goldwater Scholar and will receive $7,500 from the foundation for use next year in paying for tuition, books and other fees.
  
  Daniel Wang, also an Honors College junior majoring in biological sciences, received an honorable mention in recognition of his undergraduate science research.
  
  Both plan to earn joint M.D./Ph.D. degrees to become physician-researchers.
  
  Guo has worked with faculty in medical labs at UIC and at the University of Chicago. While much of her research has focused on cancer, she has recently turned to epidemiology.
  
  "Engaging in research is incredibly intellectually rewarding," she said. "You get the immense privilege of investigating important problems. You get to see something new, for the first time, that no one else has seen."
  
  Guo, a 2010 graduate of Libertyville High School, has already been a contributing author to journal publications and recently presented a poster at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. She is a leader of several student groups, and was founder of the UIC chapter of United for Undergraduate Socioeconomic Diversity, a national student-led advocacy group. She has won numerous university academic awards and honors in addition to the Goldwater recognition.
  
  Wang, now a resident of Naperville, is a 2009 graduate of Dunlap Community High School in Dunlap, Ill., near Peoria. He has done research into viral diseases at UIC and in Germany at the Westfaelische Wilhelms-Universitat Munster Center for Molecular Biology and Virology. He is active in several campus organizations and committees and participates in sports, including intramural football, dodgeball and tennis. He is also on UIC's cycling and triathlon team.
  
  Only 282 were selected from among 1,123 qualified students nominated for the Goldwater Scholarship, named for the late Republican senator from Arizona. The scholarship ranks among the most prestigious undergraduate awards for students in mathematics, science and engineering.
  
  For more information about UIC, visit www.uic.edu.

• Gallery 400 Opens "Spectral Landscape (with Viewing Stations)" - Mon, 23 Apr 2012
  Gallery 400 on April 27 will open "Spectral Landscape (with Viewing Stations)," a group exhibition that organizes works by 18 noted artists according to a color spectrum to explore color as both formal and social force.
  
  Works by Polly Apfelbaum, John Baldessari, Anne Collier, Gary Hill, Gaylen Gerber, Rashid Johnson, Anna Kunz, Judy Ledgerwood, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle and Richard Mosse are included.
  
  In approaching the exhibition as a landscape, artist-curators Pamela Fraser and John Neff considered not only spectral color, but also atmospheric phenomena such as infrared, thermal, metallic, and iridescent color. The show reveals how artists navigate interactions among colors, histories, and sensations through a curatorial approach that sees color in expected ways, and through diverse artists working in a wide variety of genres and methods.
  
  In a related screening, "Color Films," Fraser and Neff organize films and videos along a spectrum that registers changes in color, but also changes in expressive modality: abstraction, ritual, landscape, etc. They include "Infrared Nail Pull" by Paul Dickinson, "Carrie Yellow" by John Kramer, "Pink and White Terraces" by Nova Paul, "Flushing" by Cheryl Donegan, and more.
  
  The opening reception for both shows will take place on April 27, 5-8 p.m.
  
  "Color Films" will be screened on May 23 at 7 p.m.
  
  "Spectral Landscape (with Viewing Stations" will be on view through June 9; Tuesday-Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.; Saturday, noon-6 p.m.
  
  For gallery tours, go to gallery400.uic.edu/visit/tours.
  
  Admission to all programs is free. The programs are supported in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

• Can Weight Loss Help African American Breast Cancer Survivors? - Tue, 24 Apr 2012
  Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago's Institute for Health Research and Policy have designed a novel community-based weight loss intervention designed for African American breast cancer survivors.
  
  Under a five-year, $3 million grant from the National Cancer Institute, researchers will determine if the program, called Moving Forward, is effective in decreasing body mass index and weight and improving diet and physical activity habits. They will also evaluate the effect of weight loss on blood pressure, cholesterol and quality of life.
  
  African American women exhibit higher breast cancer mortality rates than white women; in Chicago the breast cancer mortality rate for black women is 116 percent higher than the rate for white women, says Melinda Stolley, principal investigator of the study and institute researcher.
  
  Poor diet, lack of physical activity and obesity contribute to breast cancer progression and may intensify other conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease, she said.
  
  "One of the cruel things about being diagnosed with breast cancer is that most women gain weight post-treatment -- on average 5 to 7 pounds -- which is not fully understood. We want to target African American women because nearly 78 percent of African American women are overweight or obese."
  
  Physical activity has been shown to improve survival in breast cancer patients, Stolley said, but there has been very little research on weight loss in African American breast cancer survivors.
  
  UIC will partner with the Chicago Park District to implement the study in the Roseland/Pullman, Englewood, Austin, South Shore and Lawndale neighborhoods.
  
  The randomized study will recruit 240 African American breast cancer survivors who have completed treatment at least six months prior; are overweight; are physically able to participate in moderate physical activity; and are not currently in a structured weight loss program.
  
  The goal of the weight loss intervention is to address health behavior change at an individual level while acknowledging the importance of culture, family lifestyles, community traditions and social support, said Stolley. A pilot study "was effective in significantly reducing dietary fat and significantly increasing vegetable intake, vigorous activity, and social support." Women in the pilot study lost five and a half pounds during the six-month intervention.
  
  Women in the program will receive a free 12-month membership to a participating park district location where they will attend twice weekly exercise and educational sessions. Participants in the control group will meet weekly to learn about general health topics. At the end of the program all participants will receive a 12-month free membership to the Chicago Park District.
  
  Co-investigators are Drs. Richard Campbell, Giamila Fantuzzi, Ben Gerber, Angela Odoms-Young, and Lisa Sharp.
  
  UIC ranks among the nation's leading research universities and is Chicago's largest university with 27,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. A hallmark of the campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world.