Fostering Health Equity Research: Development and Implementation of the Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) Chicago

Sage J. Kim, Jesus Ramirez-Valles, Karriem Watson, Paula Allen-Mears, Phoenix Matthews, Erica Martinez, Angela Odoms-Young, Martha Daviglus, Robert A. Winn
2019 Journal of Clinical and Translational Science  
Introduction: The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of developing and implementing a transdisciplinary community-based research center, the Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) Chicago, to offer a model for designing and implementing research centers that aim to address structural causes of health inequality. Methods: Scholars from diverse backgrounds and disciplines formed a multidisciplinary team for the Center, and adopted the structural violence framework as the
more » ... conceptual model. All Center activities were based on community partnership. The Center activities were organized within three cores: administrative, investigator development, and community engagement and dissemination cores. The key activities during the first year were to develop a pilot grant program for early stage investigators (ESIs) and to establish community partnership mechanisms. Results: CHER provided more than 60 consultations for ESIs, which resulted in 31 pilot applications over the three application cycles. Over 200 academic and community partners attended the community symposium and discussed community priority. Some challenges encountered were: to improve communication among investigators, to clarify roles and responsibilities of the three cores, and to build consensus on the definition and operationalization of the concept of structural violence. Conclusion: There is an increasing need for local hubs to facilitate transdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement to effectively address health inequity. Building consensus around a shared vision among partners is a difficult and yet important step toward achieving equity.
doi:10.1017/cts.2019.415 pmid:32257411 pmcid:PMC7103474 fatcat:e7kiyhe3dndl7ltr5swsn2uyie