BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS – Hispanics, Latinos or Mexican-Americans from this part of the country have a high rate of some chronic diseases such as diabetics, obesity and liver problems.

But a multi-omics research will look at the causes of the alarming rates and is funded by a $ 4 million grant received by the Brownsville School of Public Health from the National Institutes of Health.

Multi-omics refers to the research incorporation of data from different omics such as genomics, transcriptomics proteomics and metabolomics.

The achievement happened with the participation of some of the 5,000 volunteers recruited by SPH since it was founded about 20 years ago.

Dr. Joseph B. McCormick, a founding member of SPH, said the goal of the research is to help understand why people here are more susceptible to certain chronic diseases than other ethnic groups, said Anglo Americans.

“Why do these types of diseases affect Latinos more than others?” he said. “This is the focus of research on our campus.”

Brownsville is one of six locations selected nationwide. The other locations are three in California, one in New York and one in Chicago,

McCormick is happy to be different because the size of this city is small compared to the five metropolises.

“We are happy,” he said. “It’s a tribute to the hard work of our staff some of whom have worked here for over twenty years.”

McCormick said a large percentage of the volunteers are from Cameron County. SBH is under the umbrella of UT Health Houston.

Under the new study, each of the 300 participants’ height and weight were recorded and pictures and imaging of their livers and eyes were also taken.

McCormick said that people from here come from different backgrounds and believes that the high level of particular chronic diseases may be linked to genetics.

“We’re looking at a variety of factors,” he said. “One is the effect of our background on our health.

“We hope this research will lead to knowledge that will help us identify those at high risk before they develop significant liver disease,” he said, “as well as for possible treatments that with a special emphasis on understudied minorities such as our Hispanic/Latino population.”