National Program Office
The Team
The Merck Foundation selected the University of Michigan’s Center for Managing Chronic Disease (CMCD), under the leadership of Dr. Noreen Clark, to serve as the National Program Office (NPO) for the Alliance. Assisting Dr. Clark (Director of the NPO) are Ms. Julia Dodge, Deputy Director, and Dr. Belinda Nelson, Grantee Liaison. An Advisory Board of national experts in the area of diabetes and disparities was assembled to support and guide the work of the National Program Office and the grantee partners.
The Mission:
The NPO focuses on 3 broad areas for a five year period spanning 2009- 2013:
- Provides leadership in building the Alliance as a national partnership. At the national level, the Alliance is collaborating with key organizations who share our interest in advancing needed policy and systems change to reduce disparities in diabetes. Collaborating organizations include: AADE, ADA, CDC Division of Diabetes Translation, HHS Office of Minority Health, the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors, the National Association of City and Community Health Officers, and SOPHE.
- Serves as the hub for communications activities between the five grantee teams at both the national and local levels to promote collaboration, information exchange and dissemination of lessons learned and program outcomes.
- Provides ongoing support and technical assistance to the diabetes and health care disparities program efforts of the five grantee communities. Promote sustainability of the most promising efforts of the Alliance partners.
The Approach:
The NPO synthesizes the ways in which the Alliance contributes by:
- Looking across sites to better understand and model how to implement evidence-based, multi-level interventions at the local level.
- Identifying common features, themes, and lessons learned across diverse communities.
- Sharing information and informing policy at multiple levels to account for the day-to-day realities of providing quality care to those most in need.
- Supporting the external cross-site evaluation being conducted by RTI International (RTI).
Key Achievements (Current August 2012):
- Launched a public website for the Alliance (www.alliancefordiabetes.org)
- Established a National Advisory Board (NAB) comprised of seven national experts in the area of diabetes and disparities
- Conducted annual site visits with each of the five grantee partners and hosted annual all-Alliance meetings to receive updates regarding their innovative and ambitious community efforts, share ideas, and provide technical support.
- Built partnerships with the leadership of national organizations sharing the Alliance goal of reducing disparities in diabetes through face-to-face meeting.
- Manuscript published: Clark, NM, Brenner, J, Johnson, P, Spoonhunter, H, Walton, J, Dodge, JA, Nelson, B. (2011) Reducing disparities in diabetes: The Alliance Model for Health Care Improvements. Diabetes Spectrum, 24(4), 226-230.
- Alliance national presentations: CDC Diabetes Translation Conference in April 2011; AADE Annual Meeting in August 2012.
- Hosted an Invited National Summit in Washington, DC in March 2012. Approximately 100 leaders of national organizations gathered to discuss policy considerations and approaches arising from the on-the-ground experience of the grantee partners. A link to the full Policy Considerations Report arising from these discussions is forthcoming and will be posted to the Alliance website (www.alliancefordiabetes.org) in Fall 2012.
For more information on the National Program Office, please contact National Program Office Deputy Director, Julia A. Dodge at jadodge@umich.edu.