URMC Chosen for National Community Health and Health Equity Initiative

The University of Rochester Medical Center was recently selected by the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) to be one of only eight institutions to join an effort to improve health equity and the health of communities nationwide. The UR Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s efforts to promote community engagement and inclusion of diverse populations in health research were integral to URMC’s selection.

The Building a Systems Approach to Community Health and Health Equity initiative aims to coordinate the community health-focused efforts of the nation’s academic medical centers to ensure their success. It will map community- and patient-health promoting activities at URMC and the other participating institutions and evaluate the impact of these activities on patients, communities, learners, and the institutions. It will also serve as a network for sharing successes and lessons in an effort to solve problems found in virtually every community across our nation.

URMC was chosen by AAMC for its history of ongoing, collaborative, institutional efforts across research, clinical and educational missions to address community health disparities – efforts in which the CTSI has been intimately involved. The CTSI has a Community and Collaboration Core that gives the community a voice in research and promotes engagement and translation and a Community Advisory Council helps shape these efforts. The CTSI has also instated a Director of Diversity and Inclusion who monitors and promotes diversity in the URMC workforce and health research study participant populations.

Nancy M. Bennett, M.D., co-director, Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and director of the Center for Community Health will be part of the URMC team for this initiative along with Theresa Green, Ph.D., M.B.A., director of URMC Community Health Education and Policy; Michael D. Mendoza, M.D., M.P.H., associate professor of Family Medicine and Public Health Sciences and director of the Monroe County Department of Health; Linda Chaudron, M.D., associate vice president for Inclusion and Culture Development; Kathy Parrinello, chief operating officer of Strong Memorial Hospital; Diane M. Hartmann, M.D., senior associate dean, Graduate Medical Education.

URMC joins in the initiative with colleagues from Eastern Virginia Medical School, Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, MedStar Health, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine and Western Michigan University Homer Stryker MD Medical School.

Read more in the URMC Newsroom.

Michael Hazard | 1/13/2017

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