Grant: Tm Gr.:Embr. Diversity to Achieve Precision/Health Equity-Nutrition/Meta. Health

The risk of developing Type 2 diabetes is higher for some population groups, including racialized populations, low-income, and marginalized communities. Socioeconomic, built environment, structural barriers, lifestyle factors, and healthcare access influence the inequities in diabetes risk. Studying the health of the entire population involves looking at who is at risk, figuring out which groups need help the most, and finding effective ways to address health inequalities. Unfortunately, there aren't many tools available to understand the risk of diabetes for whole communities, especially considering the differences between various groups. Another gap is the need to integrate engagement approaches with community to understand lived experiences and contexts of communities and better identify underlying causes of diabetes inequities and locally-relevant solutions. Our research method involves working closely with local health systems and community partners to create a new way of studying and understanding diabetes risk in communities. Working together with community partners, we will define diabetes prevention strategies that are relevant to local needs and how to reduce overall diabetes risk and diabetes inequities. This research will develop a novel precision diabetes prevention approach to more comprehensively characterize heterogeneity in diabetes risk in communities using validated population risk tools and linked health, survey and environmental data. By collaborating with community members and partners in Peel Region, we aim to uncover and address disparities in diabetes risk and develop practical ways to prevent it. Each member of our research team contributes a distinct disciplinary and lived experience perspective to develop the proposed novel precision diabetes approach to understand heterogeneity in diabetes risk better using community-based participatory approaches, thereby ensuring impact and meaningful change for communities across Canada.