URMC Community Advisory Council

The Center for Community Health & Prevention and University of Rochester Medical Center seek to promote health equity and improve health by combining community expertise and academic knowledge. Community voices are critical to identifying priority health needs and, in collaboration with academic partners, developing successful strategies that address these needs and reduce health inequities.

The Community Advisory Council (CAC) was created in 2006 to represent the community and guide and support the University of Rochester Medical Center's (URMC) missions of Education, Research, Patient Care, and Community Health. 

Mission: Provide guidance and promote the quality, accessibility, and delivery of patient care, research, education, and community health at the University of Rochester Medical Center to equitably and comprehensively meet the needs and advance the priorities of our communities.

CAC Co-Chairs

CAC Membership 

The CAC serves in an advisory capacity to the University of Rochester Medical Center, Center for Community Health & Prevention, and University of Rochester Clinical & Translational Science Institute.

The functions of the CAC are to:

• Act as a resource to URMC to strengthen community partnerships with an aim to reduce disparities and improve access to healthcare and services
• Contribute to the assessment and identification of community health-related priorities
• Promote constituent engagement in community health improvement initiatives
• Review community-engaged projects and research, as requested

Since its inception, the CAC has contributed to building an infrastructure for URMC’s community engagement activities, and produced the following documents, which serve as a resource to researchers conducting community-based research:

• Priority Research Topics
• Guiding Principles for Community-Engaged Research
• Tackling the Unknown Together-Collaborative Planning for Research to Improve Community Health
• Knowledge is Power-Sharing Research Results with the Community

Questions? Contact Laura Sugarwala, MBA, RD, director of Community Partnerships, at laura_sugarwala@urmc.rochester.edu.