Reducing Health Disparities to Promote Health Equity through Policy Research.

Health policy research aligns with the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). Understanding the effects of a policy change at a local, state or national level that impacts health requires setting up data collection or accessing existing data to evaluate impact at a population health level. The translational work in this special supplement issue of Ethnicity & Disease is a powerful and essential approach in optimizing scientific inquiry that supports increasing awareness and selected strategies for cultivating the lives of vulnerable and underserved individuals, families, and communities.