In this project, faculty across USC were awarded Provost funding to engage in innovative projects in which they teach with technology. Ragusa serves in an advisement role with this project related to assessment and project evaluation. This partnership enables advancement and impact assessment of the University’s innovative teaching with technology opportunities.
The University of Southern California, in collaboration with Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, developed a comprehensive, multidisciplinary state-of-the-art research program supported by an NCMHD Center of Excellence that focuses on the principle that obesity and associated life-style factors (e.g., poor diet and inactivity) begin early in life and set individuals on a path of high lifetime risk of major chronic diseases, including most significantly, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Furthermore, this Center is dedicated to the belief that the long-term control of obesity and obesity-related diseases in minority children can be addressed through the prevention and control of obesity during childhood. The diverse population of urban Los Angeles provides a unique environment and access to a broad range of population sub-groups to address these issues. The purpose of the regional seminar series, which includes a range of research topics supported through the Center, was to share and disseminate minority health and health disparities research findings on childhood obesity and to increase the participation by health professionals and community stakeholders in the effort to eliminate health disparities in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of childhood obesity.