This article describes a piece published in the Feb. 26, 1987 Brown Daily Herald.
On this day in history in 1987, Stacy Bereck Chernosky ’90 P’23 covered the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s $95,000 grant for the University to study community-based AIDS care. The Center for Health Care Research at the University — now called Brown University Center for Gerontology & Healthcare Research — planned to explore methods to provide specialized, affordable and accessible health services to residents in 11 cities across the country.
The grant followed the RWJF’s $1.6 million donation to the same 11 cities in Oct. 1986. In gifting the University the $95,000 grant, the RWJF charged the University with determining the types of services cities should offer. Vincent Mor, then-director of the Center for Health Care Research, visited the locations along with his colleagues to “familiarize themselves with each city’s resources,” Bereck wrote.
At the time, Mor emphasized to Bereck the Center’s concern with acquainting the team with the unique characteristics and struggles of each city. “Different cities face different problems — political, financial, organizational,” he reflected. “The patient populations are also different. We want to see how different cities attack problems and what the implications are for patient care.”
During their visits, the team paid particular attention to the needs and goals of each community, conducting extensive surveys of patients who were suffering from AIDS. The Center evaluated cities that spanned from coast to coast, including New York, Dallas, New Orleans, Miami and Seattle.
At the time of the publication of Bereck’s article, the grant was in the first phase of a potential four-year, $1 million study. Since then, the University has continued to prioritize AIDS research through the Providence/Boston Center for AIDS Research and other University-led projects. Along with continuing to fund AIDS-related research at the University, the RWJF also maintains its commitment to other initiatives focused on underrepresented communities, The Herald previously reported.
