August 20, 2024
The Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina is one of the largest tribes in the Eastern United States. Their tribal homeland is in Robeson, Hoke, and Scotland counties. These areas are impacted by persistent poverty and other adverse social determinates of health. According to the County Health Rankings, Robeson county ranks last among the state’s 100 counties in health outcomes.
To improve these outcomes and build upon the previous work done in the Lumbee Tribe and across the state, UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy’s Ronny Bell, PhD, and Delesha Carpenter, PhD, will join a multi-disciplinary group that will utilize existing community and academic research resources to understand and address the underlying factors associated with substance misuse and pain management among Lumbee Indians.
“We are honored to have this opportunity to collaborate with the Lumbee Tribe to help address these important health issues,” said Bell, Fred Eshelman Distinguished Professor and chair of the Division of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy (DPOP).
Both Bell and Carpenter, professor and executive vice chair of DPOP, bring their own expertise to the table. Bell is an enrolled member of the Lumbee Tribe and chairs the North Carolina American Indian Health Board. His research focuses on health disparities in cancer as well as a concentration in chronic disease disparities with an emphasis on rural and underserved populations, such as American Indian populations. Carpenter’s research aims to improve patient-provider communication about sensitive issues like suicide, opioid overdose, and vaccine hesitancy. She was recently funded by the National Institutes of Health to document disparities in naloxone access across the state.
“Over the past few years, American Indians have seen the largest increases in overdose deaths both nationally and in North Carolina, so this project is critical for identifying areas that are in greatest need of additional resources,” said Carpenter.
The project, entitled “Building Indigenous Community-Informed Research Infrastructure to address Substance Misuse and Pain Management (iCRISP),” is part of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) collaborative contract with the Lumbee Tribe and other organizations, including the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center, the Research Triangle Institute, CORE Response and the North Carolina Division of Health and Human Services Injury and Violence Prevention Branch.
Building iCRISP will pull together an advisory committee with representatives from the Lumbee Tribe and various research organizations. In addition to developing community-driven strategies to address substance misuse, they will work to understand the epidemiology and community impact. The advisory committee will also assist in the creation of a data dashboard website to document deaths and hospitalizations in addition to identifying “hot spots” in the community.
If successful, this approach can bring culturally relevant evidence-based substance misuse prevention and treatment resources to the community, which can then be used as a model for other tribes in North Carolina and beyond.
“We hope this is the beginning of a substantive research and engagement relationship with the Lumbee Tribe where we can work collaboratively to impact the health of the Lumbee Tribal community,” said Bell.
The principal investigator is Cherry Beasley, Ph.D., who recently retired from UNC Pembroke after a very distinguished career and is now employed by the Lumbee Tribe to lead health initiatives. She is also a member of the School’s eastern North Carolina advisory board. This project is part of the NIH’s new Native Collective Research Effort to Enhance Wellness program, which supports research projects that are led directly by tribes and organizations that serve Native American communities.
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