NASHVILLE, Tenn. The Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance (MVA) is celebrating 20 years of community partnership in research with a series of workshops led by Meharry Medical College (MMC) and Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) staff involved in community engaged research.
The Summer Research Lunch & Learn series kicked off on May 22, 2019, with Vanderbilt University School of Medicine MD/MBA Candidate and Shade Tree Clinic Executive Director Rohini Chakravarthy.
Identifying people at risk
Chakravarthy discussed “Identifying the Social Determinants of Health,” focusing on publicly available census data like the Area Deprivation Index to predict health outcomes.
“My research focuses on identifying people who might be at risk for bad health outcomes based on what neighborhood they come from,” she said. “These formulas use data from the census in order to intervene early and efficiently.”
Chakravarthy spoke to a packed house in the MVA’s Large Conference Room, with visitors from MMC, VUMC and other institutions.
“I hope this work will support programs to address financial barriers to care like food insecurity or lack of transportation,” she said.
Click here to download Chakravarthy’s complete presentation.
Justin Bachman, MD, MPH, FACC, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Bioinformatics and Health Policy at VUMC, and Sabina Dang, BA follow Chakravarthy with their own presentations:
- Association of Cardiac Rehabilitation Enrollment with Neighborhood Deprivation
- The Impact of the Social Determinants of Health and Laryngotracheal Stenosis Development and Treatment Outcome
Upcoming sessions
Three more sessions are scheduled in the series:
- June 19: Fundamentals of Biostatistics with Mario Davidson, PhD
- July 17: Needles in the PubMed Haystack: Finding and Writing about Evidence from the Literature with Nan Kennedy, BA and Becky Jerome, MLIS, MPH
- August 21: Writing and Publishing with Jennifer Erves, PhD, MAed, MS
Click here to register for the Juny 19 session.
About the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance
Founded in 1999, the Alliance bridges the institutions of Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. Its mission is to enrich learning and advance clinical research in three primary areas -- community engagement, interprofessional education and research -- by developing and supporting mutually beneficial partnerships between Meharry Medical College, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and the communities they serve. Through community engagement, the Alliance serves a large community of stakeholders including surrounding universities and colleges, community organizations, faith-based outlets and community health centers. Its interprofessional education enhances students' interdisciplinary understanding and improves patient outcomes through integrated care. The research conducted provides access to experienced grant writers and materials supporting the grant application process and facilitates grant-writing workshops.
