Message from Our Director

It’s an honor to be entrusted with the care and leadership of the Center for Community Health & Prevention. Our team is committed to creating environments that support healthy living and make better health accessible for all. From our one-on-one smoking and vaping cessation services, to working with community partners and area hospitals to build health care career pathways for Rochester youth, to identifying at-risk populations and informing public health policy through data collection and analysis – the scope of our work continues to grow and evolve to reflect the ever-changing needs of our community.

Many of our initiatives are evidence-based and include a community-based research component. As a result, we can discover and share the most effective ways to help people form healthy lifestyle habits and maintain them where they live, learn, work, worship, and play.

Our programs, services, and research activities are responsive to the needs and priorities of the community, because social accountability is critical to developing strategies that promote population health. Our Community Advisory Council (CAC) was created in 2006 to help achieve this. The CAC plays a critical role in identifying community priorities such as nutrition, physical activity, violence reduction, and mental health.

Through disease prevention and healthy living programs, research, education, and policy, we look forward to building on our success and helping everyone in our region live their healthiest life.

So that the people may live,

Edith M. Williams, Ph.D., M.S.
Director, Center for Community Health & Prevention
Founding Director, Office of Health Equity Research
Dean's Professor of Health Equity Research

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