The UK Center of Excellence in Rural Health was established in 1990 to address health disparities in rural Kentucky, including a chronic shortage of health professionals and residents’ poor health status. The Center accomplishes this through health professionals education, health policy research, health care service and community engagement. The Center serves as the federally designated Kentucky Office of Rural Health (KORH).

Can novel drug targets be identified to slow the progression of abdominal aortic aneurysms? Is a stimulated renin-angiotensin system the link between obesity and the myriad of obesity-induced cardiovascular diseases, or the development of type 2 diabetes? Do specific bioactive lipids released from platelets and/or the myocardium following myocardial infarction influence platelet function? These are some of the clinically significant pharmacologic questions addressed by researchers within the Department of Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences.