There are striking disparities in health status, access to health care and risk factors between various communities among the population in Texas. Certain populations have higher death rate due to health conditions such as cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) "Metroplex" refers to Dallas, Fort Worth, and the dozens of lesser municipalities around and between them. The Metroplex is the nation's fourth largest metropolitan area, is home to over eight million residents, and more than two million of them are first- and second-generation Americans. Approximately one-sixth of Dallas and Fort Worth residents live under and one-third live just above the federal poverty line. 

Health disparities also result from lack of health care professionals that serve disproportionately affected communities. By the year 2040 Texas will need over 350,000 Health Professionals including physicians, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, optometrists, veterinarians and podiatrists (According to the Texas State Data Center (www.txsdc.tamu.edu), requiring Texas to train the next generation of students, healthcare providers and researchers to address the ever-increasing health disparities within our communities.

In 2005, The National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD, renamed NIMHD) awarded the UNT Health Science Center a Center of Excellence in Partnerships for Community Outreach, Research on Health Disparities and Training (EXPORT). The UNTHSC established the TCHD http://www.hsc.unt.edu/HealthDisparities. To date, TCHD is the only NIMHD Center of Excellence in Texas and one of twelve in the U.S. The TCHD mission is executed by 5 main objectives supported by three main cores: Research Core, Training Core and Outreach Core. The objectives of TCHD are: 

• To foster existing relationships and develop new relationships with under resourced institutions as partners. 
• To conduct research on health disparity areas that exists in such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, stroke and HIV; 
• Provide unique opportunities for students and faculty from under resourced institutions in health disparity research; 
• Promote education of students in health professions, health care practitioners and policy makers on the existence of health disparities and the need to combat the problem; and 
• Serve as a resource for the population representing disproportionately affected communities to disseminate health information, promote community participation in health education and research, and to implement disease prevention activities. 

The annual Texas Conference on Health Disparities, in its twenty years, serves as the central advocate of TCHD's efforts in reducing health disparities in our community and the U.S.