The Last Tobacco Research Network on Disparities (TReND) meeting!

by Scout

Seeing Old Friends & Thinking About Capacity

Last week I ducked out of day 2 of the National Coalition for LGBT Health meeting to zip up to NIH-land where the last ever meeting was being held for the Tobacco Research Network on Disparities (TReND). This is a group jointly convened by National Cancer Institute and American Legacy Foundation to share information on tobacco disparities research of all stripes. The Network’s Steering Committee Chair, Dr. Francisco Buchting, and Dr. Pebbles Fagan from NCI keep pulling me in to participate in all the TReND activities, and I have to say, I’ve loved it. So, I saw many of my friends here, Lourdes Baezconde-Garbanati, Vickie Shavers, Linda Alexander, Deborah McLellan, Dee Lawrence, and on. Also very delighted to see other Network folk Kevin Jennings from Missouri, Gary Humfleet from UCSF, and who else, I’m sure I’m forgetting others. While I didn’t get to attend the whole meeting, I was able to present on my best thoughts on Building and Sustaining Capacity in tobacco disparity research work into the future. What did I think was smartest? Use social media to keep us linked between meetings more. And invest a modest amount in creating a more formal net to catch and mentor the incoming disparity researchers that pop up like oh, like LGBT people do scattered all around the map, not necessarily in a home that is welcoming or supportive to them. I think linking the more expert disparity researchers to the incoming students would really pay off in helping to pass on the skills that we have learned on how to survive and thrive.

TReND Resources and Keeping Connected

TReND continues virtually even if they don’t have any more meetings planned for right now. So, catch the web with all the resources here: http://www.tobaccodisparities.org, and if you’re interested in this work, join the TReND Facebook group, or follow them on Twitter – @tobaccoresearch.

Check out that website for their many smart reports created, especially remember the follow sharp little nugget we helped them create a few years back –
LGBT of Color Sampling Methodology: Strategies for Data Collection Among Small, Hiden or Hard-to-Reach Groups to Reduce Tobacco Related Health Disparities. (2009)

http://dccps.nci.nih.gov/tcrb/trend/lgbt/docs/LGBTReport508.pdf