$3M Mercer grant targets diabetes in blacks

Macon — The Mercer School of Medicine is getting a $3.1 million grant, the largest one-time grant in the school’s history, to conduct a five-year study aimed at decreasing health disparities from diabetes in the black community.

The grant from the National Institutes of Health will fund the study by Mercer’s Department of Family Medicine under the Church-Based Diabetes Prevention and Translation program. It will take place in black churches in Macon and Hartford, Conn.

“The rate of diabetes in African-Americans is among the highest in the country,” said Mercer’s Dr. John Boltri, the principal research investigator. “Diabetes is a leading cause of heart disease, blindness and kidney disease, accounting for more than 18 percent of all U.S. medical costs.”