Elon faculty joins a diverse community of scholars promoting community health. The capacity-building activity was organized by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's New Connection program in Denver at the end of October 2016.
Human Service Studies (HSS) Professor Carmen Monico recently joined a network of scholars from historical underrepresented groups engaged in research on community health to discuss how to increase diversity in the field.
Monico participated in the Tenth Annual Research and Coaching Clinic help Oct. 28-29 in Denver, Colorado, which was organized by New Connections, a program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to support diversity in the foundation’s programming. The RWJF supports programs aimed at improving children’s health, promoting effective and affordable community health interventions, and a culture of public health.
The hands-on training event brought together more than 50 emerging researchers from universities across the United States. The training included an overview of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) research-funding mechanisms and a mock proposal review panel with commentary and analysis of draft NIH grant applications. In addition, it included a panel discussion with editors from journals and senior researchers across disciples to discuss strategies for getting manuscripts published.
Facilitators of the training program included: Margarita Alegria, Chief of the Disparities Research Unit at the Massachusetts General Hospital and professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School; Cheryl Anne Boyce, chief of the Implementation Science Branch of the Center for Translational Research and Implementation Science within the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HHLBI, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Health and Human Services (DHSS); Jesus Ramirez-Valles, professor and director of community health sciences at the University of Illinois-Chicago’s School of Public Health and editor-in-chief of the journal Health Promotion Practice; and Michael Cummingham, professor at Tulane University and associate editor of Child Development.
For more information about the training, research funding opportunities and programs, visit www.rwjf-newconecctions.org.