Citation. Prof. Charles Agyemang is a Professor of Global Migration, Ethnicity and Health and Principal Investigator at Amsterdam University Medical Centres, University of Amsterdam. Prof. Agyemang has initiated and set up several projects including the RODAM Study and Pros-RODAM (both funded by European Commission). He is a recipient of the prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Consolidation Award & VENI fellowship of The Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO). Prof. Agyemang is very active internationally. He is currently the Vice President of the Migrant Health section of the European Public health Association; a core member of the European Hypertension Society Workgroup on Hypertension & Cardiovascular Risk in Low Resource Settings; a member of the WHO taskforce on NCDs in Migrant and was a also member and a rapporteur of the Planning Committee for WHO Global Consultation on Migrant Health. He is an Associate Editor for BMC Public Health and Internal and Emergency Medicine.
Goal or mission statement. Our research focuses on gaining insights into ethnic inequalities in health and how migration and context in which migrants and ethnic minority groups live and work shape their health with the ultimate aim of translating the research findings to targeted intervention programmes and clinical practices that are most appropriate for these populations.
Research themes. Modern societies are ethnically diverse due to international migration. Understanding similarities and differences in health outcomes and the potential determinants for such similarities and differences is highly relevant for improving health and well-being for all. Our research focuses on major health burden such as cardiovascular diseases (e.g. stroke, coronary heart diseases) and risk factors (e.g. diabetes, hypertension, obesity) among migrants and ethnic minority groups and their determinants (e.g. social, cultural, economic, psychological, lifestyle, epigenetics) and translating the research knowledge into targeted interventions.
We use three key methods for assessing migrants and ethnic minority groups’ health:
1) Ethnic Inequalities in Health: Within this theme we study how migrants and ethnic minority groups are compared with the host populations and the potential factors that may contribute to ethnic inequalities using existing databases among migrants, ethnic minority groups and the host populations from local, national and international level.
2) Role of Migration on Health: Within this theme, we study the role of migration by comparing migrants in high-income countries with their compatriots who did not migrate and living in their home countries and the potential migration-related lifestyle changes, changes in social circumstances, and epigenetics may contribute to migrants health disadvantage. This is achieved through cross-sectional and longitudinal study designs such as the RODAM study (http://www.rod-am.eu/).
3) Role of Context on Migrant Health: Within this theme, we study how context in which migrants and ethnic minority groups live and work in the host countries may influence their health outcomes by comparing similar migrant and ethnic minority populations living in different high-income countries. This is achieved through standardisation of databases across European countries.
Translation of research findings into targeted intervention programmes: Within this theme, we develop, evaluate and scale up culturally sensitive intervention programmes for migrant in high-income countries and disadvantaged communities in low- and middle-income countries. Examples of such studies include the FAMILY study - a community-based family-centred intervention model for overweight and obesity prevention for underserved families of African origin in Amsterdam; and SCALE-UP study - a community-based intervention for primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases in the slums of Nairobi.
……. Image on multi-ethnic population will be great!