Gonzalez receives award to study causes of racial disparities in amputation rates in Indiana

Regenstrief Institute

INDIANAPOLIS --More than 8 million people, ages 40 and older, living in the U.S. are affected by peripheral arterial disease, a lifelong medical condition and the most common cause of limb amputation in the country. A data scientist, health services researcher and vascular surgeon who studies health equity, Andrew A. Gonzalez, M.D., J.D., MPH, of the Regenstrief Institute and the Indiana University School of Medicine, has received a 2024 Ralph W. and Grace M. Showalter Research Trust award to conduct a new study, Exploring Causes of Racial Disparities in Amputation Rates in Indiana.

Dr. Gonzalez will analyze statewide clinical data from the Indiana Network for Patient Care (INPC) to explore racial disparities in vascular care leading to peripheral arterial disease associated amputation in Indiana, including whether minority patients have lower rates of adherence to best practices associated with better outcomes in both the pre-operative and post-operative phases of care for peripheral arterial disease.

He will also identify upstream drivers of racial disparities in peripheral arterial disease.

The INPC, created by the Regenstrief Institute and now managed by the Indiana Health Information Exchange, is the nation’s largest inter-organizational clinical and claims data repository, containing more than 16 billion clinical data items from throughout the state. 

Black individuals have a significantly higher lifetime risk of peripheral arterial disease than Whites or Hispanics but are less likely to be diagnosed and treated. Treatment of peripheral arterial disease may reduce the risk of amputation, heart attack or stroke.

Dr. Gonzalez notes, “The Showalter award supports work that will enable our ability to conduct more sophisticated future studies that will involve injecting context such as geographic specificity. We will also develop empirical data to support interventional studies targeting particular upstream drivers of racial disparities in amputation rates that we identify.”

The Ralph W. and Grace M. Showalter Research Trust was established in 1975 to support medical and scientific research at Indiana University and Purdue University. Priority for support is given to projects that have a high potential to compete for or leverage federal funding and to create programs with a life span longer than the Showalter award.

Andrew Gonzalez, M.D., J.D., MPH

In addition to his role as a research scientist and associate director for data science with the William M. Tierney Center for Health Services Research at Regenstrief Institute, Andrew Gonzalez, M.D., J.D., MPH, is a practicing vascular surgeon and an assistant professor of surgery at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Gonzalez is also a faculty affiliate with the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering at Purdue University.