URMC / Clinical & Translational Science Institute / Stories / September 2021 / UR CTSI Seeking Founding Director for Office for Health Equity Research

UR CTSI Seeking Founding Director for Office for Health Equity Research

The University of Rochester Clinical and Translational Science Institute is launching a national search to find a director and founder for its Office for Health Equity Research (OHER). The office is part of the University of Rochester Medical Center’s Equity and Anti-Racism Action Plan, which aims to establish URMC as a national leader in health equity research and education, specifically focusing on the impact of racism on health and development.

The OHER will support the fifth pillar of the plan, “to engage in equitable health care” in part by “reducing disparities through research, active listening and collaboration with community partners.” The office will support innovative health equity research across URMC to foster a deeper understanding of the root causes of health disparities and the burdens experienced by excluded groups.

To support researchers, the office will provide pilot funding, promote new research partnerships and develop training and technical resources. The office is also already assessing the current health equity education needs and research capacity at URMC and actively collaborating with community partners to determine the health equity research direction for URMC.

The new OHER director will have the freedom to establish a strategic vision for the office and build it as a central resource for URMC health equity researchers. Through the office, the director will increase URMC’s capacity for health equity research and cultivate URMC’s national reputation for healthy equity research excellence.

The director will be hired as the dean’s professor of Health Equity Research, alongside a cohort of health equity research faculty. Departments across the Medical Center are currently identifying and earmarking positions that will become available in the next five years to be filled by health equity researchers. This coordinated hiring approach will help the OHER build capacity for multidisciplinary, translational teams that can work together to address racism, health inequities and the community’s stated goals.

To learn more about the position, view the full OHER director job description.

Michael Hazard | 9/14/2021