UC Riverside has received a $16-million grand from the National Institutes of Health to help reduce health disparities, particularly among Latinos who make up about half the region’s population, according to a statement issued Friday, Aug. 23, by the university.

The five-year grant will allow the university’s School of Medicine to launch the Center for Health Disparities Research — an effort that will bring together researchers in the environmental, biomedical and social sciences fields.

The Inland Empire is notorious for an acute shortage of physicians. There are only 35 physicians for every 100,000 people in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, home to about 4.3 million. The UCR statement says the region performs poorly compared to other regions in California, particularly when it comes to diabetes and coronary heart disease.

San Bernardino County ranks the second worst in diabetes-related deaths among the state’s 58 counties and Riverside County is the 10th worst in the state for heart disease-related deaths. Also, in San Bernardino County, Latinos have a diabetes-related death rate that is 50% higher than white people. In Riverside County, Latinas have the highest incidences of cervical cancer.

The new center will use a “community-based approach” to evaluate and improve the health of underserved communities in the Inland Empire, according to director David Lo.

“The knowledge the center produces will inform approaches to address health disparities that Latino communities and marginalized populations experience elsewhere in the country,” he said.

The center will support two projects based in the underserved Coachella Valley — one will focus on the impact of aerosolized particulates on health and the other will explore the relationship between infant feedings practices in low-income Latino families and child growth and obesity.