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The state's flagship university and Seat Pleasant officials hope a new prevention research center will answer health-related questions such as why HIV and AIDS infection rates are higher in communities bordering Washington, D.C.

The University of Maryland Prevention Research Center, based out of the College Park campus, began a research center Oct. 1 to study and eventually remedy health disparities in Prince George's County between the Washington, D.C., border and the Capital Beltway.

Seat Pleasant is a focal point because according to state data it is within a county ZIP code with the highest rate countywide of HIV and AIDS as of June 30, 2008, said Bradley Boekeloo, the UMD-PRC principal investigator.

Seat Pleasant also has an existing relationship with the university through the City of Seat Pleasant-University of Maryland Health Partnership, in which public health students have coordinated wellness outreach and health screenings for residents since 1999.

The UMD-PRC is open to addressing immediate as well as long-term health needs. On Saturday, Tanisha Fuller of Suitland, a UMD-PRC research assistant, and Mayor Eugene Grant organized a clothing drive and giveaway where residents came to city hall on a first-come, first-serve basis to pick up items. Items were collected on the College Park campus and excess was given to the Seat Pleasant Activity Center, Fuller said.

Approximately 30 residents attended the giveaway, said Fuller, who organized the event because she recalled how underserved Seat Pleasant was when her grandmother used to live there and thought it was a good way to build rapport with residents.

"The items were flying off the table," Fuller said. "It went really well."

As of June 30, 2008, there were more than 5,500 residents living with HIV or AIDS in Prince George's County, according to Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene statistics. Within those 5,500, 595 residents lived in the 20743 ZIP code, which includes Seat Pleasant and Capitol Heights.

The ZIP codes with the second and third highest rates were 20785, which includes Landover and unincorporated Hyattsville, and 20747, which is District Heights at 505 and 408, respectively, according to state statistics.

Boekeloo said his staff doesn't know the exact reason why the 20743 ZIP code has the highest HIV and AIDS infection rate but said the population is considered medically underserved because of a lack of access to nearby health services. The closest area health clinic is Capitol Heights' Walker Mill Health Center on Addison Road, he said. The clinic is one and a half miles away from the city hall.

Grant, who spoke to public health students at a Nov. 18 seminar in College Park, said he hopes the partnership will help expand Greater Baden Medical Services Inc., clinics such as the Walker Mill clinic and give residents access to researchers and pharmaceutical companies for access to clinical research trials.

Grant said the city and university must also work together to influence residents who are normally afraid to go to the doctor or superstitious about medication to get regular check ups, such as people afraid to get the H1N1 vaccine, he said.

"There are people who believe that they will get more sick, that it won't cure, that it won't help them," Grant said. "Those myths have got to be dispelled."

The UMD-PRC's goals in 2010 are to hold focus groups and interviews with Seat Pleasant residents and government leaders about how to best communicate with the city about their research and what they would like to see research done on, Boekeloo said.

Resident Jacqui Battle, who assisted Fuller with Saturday's clothing drive, was unaware at the time of her role with UMD-PRC or the center's overall partnership with the city. She said she is concerned her city has one of the highest HIV infection rates and said research would be a help to Seat Pleasant.

"We have a lot of people who are still out there [prostituting], and a lot of them I understand are young people and they're not using any protection," Battle said. "Naturally they're going to come up with something."

E-mail Natalie McGill at nmcgill@gazette.net.