
Carolyn M. Tucker
Thursday, October 24th

Amelie G. Ramirez
Friday, October 25th

Ayesha Jaco
Saturday, October 26th
Reducing Racism-Related Health Disparities: “With An Ear for the Beats of Different and Wounded Hearts”
Thursday, October 24th, 2024
This session will include research evidence of racism in the occurrence of health disparities that plague many communities of color, particularly those in low-income areas. Additionally, in this session, a community-based research and intervention approach to reduce racism-related and other health disparities will be set forth and described. Finally, examples of how this approach has been effectively used in low-income Black communities to reduce a health disparity disease and/or increase health promoting behaviors will be presented.
After this presentation, participants will be able to…
- List at least 3 published findings evidencing racism-related health outcomes.
- List at least 3 actions that the community-based participatory research model requires of researchers
- List the defining characteristics of patient-centered culturally sensitive health care
Dr. Carolyn M. Tucker is the UF Florida Blue Endowed Chair in Health Disparities Research at the University of Florida. She also is a Distinguished Alumni Professor, a Research Professor in Psychology, and a Courtesy Professor in Community Health and Family Medicine. Additionally, she is the Director of the UF Health Disparities Research and Intervention Program, Director of the UF Health Cancer Center (UFCC) Cancer Disparities Research Collaborative, and the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Liaison to Community Outreach and Engagement at the UFCC. She is also a member of the Board of Directors for the Florida Community Health Workers Coalition, Inc. and serves as the Co-Chair of its Research Subgroup.
Dr. Tucker is nationally and internationally known as the founder of the evidence-based Health-Smart Behavior Program™ to Prevent and Reduce Obesity and Related Diseases (called Health-Smart). The published child and adult versions of her Motivators of and Barriers to Health-Smart Behaviors Inventory, and Health-Smart are landmark health promotion and health equity tools.
The Science of Communicating for Advocacy and Action to Improve Health Equity
Friday, October 25th, 2024
The United States is increasingly diverse. Latinos comprise 19.1% of the U.S. population, and are expected to comprise well over 25% of the population by 2050. But a variety of health disparities threatens the future wellbeing of Latinos and, by extension, the nation. These disparities are driven by non-medical elements – the social determinants of health (SDoH) – in which Latino experience inequities. These SDoH issues, ranging from a lack of healthcare access to unaffordable housing to experiences of discrimination and a lack of representation, have been built into governmental laws, economic policies, school systems, neighborhoods, businesses, research, and healthcare. Reducing health disparities requires communicating advocacy and action for system changes to improve social and environmental factors and create more equitable living conditions for Latinos. That is the aim of the Salud America! program at the Institute for Health Promotion Research (IHPR), led Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez at UT Health San Antonio. Salud America! is a national, theory-based, Latino-focused communication network that creates and digitally shares culturally relevant news, stories, videos, and action tools for grassroots health policy and system changes that address SDoH and health inequities. From helping people create resolutions on racism as a public health crisis to providing a data visualization dashboard for people to quickly identify local health equity issues, Salud America! is communicating with its vast network of followers to share news, data, and action opportunities to promote system changes that can help set the stage for reduced health disparities across the U.S.
After this presentation, participants will be able to…
- Understand the state of health equity in the United States (especially focusing on Latinos)
- Learn what Salud America! is and the value of culturally competent communication with the Latino population
- Evaluate strategies, actions, and tools to use to improve health equity where you are.
Dr. Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPh, MPH, Chair and Professor of Population Health Sciences and Director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research at UT Health San Antonio
Amelie G. Ramirez, DrPH, MPH is an internationally recognized cancer and chronic disease health disparities researcher at UT Health San Antonio who has uplifted the Latino voice in health care, research, training, and outreach for over three decades. She serves as chair and professor of population health sciences at UT Health San Antonio, a Hispanic-Serving Institute, where she also is founding director of the Institute for Health Promotion Research and associate director of community outreach and engagement at the Mays Cancer Center at UT Health San Antonio, an NCI-designated Cancer Center.
Closing the Gap: Chicago’s Approach to Addressing the 14-Year Life Expectancy Gap
Saturday, October 26th, 2024
This session will unpack West Side United’s approach to forming a healthcare collaborative committed to eradicating the 14-year life expectancy gap between Chicago’s downtown and 10 communities on Chicago’s West Side. The presenter will highlight the origins of the collaborative, key partnerships, community engagement strategies, and core strategies that impacted Chicago’s response to COVID-19, Vaccine Equity, and more.
After this presentation, participants will be able to…
- List examples of how Anchor Mission institutions can serve as key contributors to community revitalization efforts.
- Describe tenets of community and anchor mission institution power sharing and co-governance structures.
- Identify existing and potential community assets that can be leveraged to enhance access to healthcare and wealth-generating opportunities for residents in communities that face multiple barriers related to the social drivers of health.
Ayesha Jaco, a lifelong resident of Chicago’s west side, has dedicated her career to improving the health and economic vitality of the community she grew up in. As Executive Director of West Side United (WSU) founded by Ascension, Cook County Health, Lurie Children’s RUSH, Sinai Chicago & UI Health, she leads programs and partnerships with additional anchor institutions, including nonprofits and churches, who work collaboratively to eliminate the 14-year life expectancy gap between Black and Brown residents on Chicago’s West Side and Chicago’s Loop.
Under Ayesha’s leadership, WSU has co created strategies that address social drivers of health including a small business grant program that has awarded $2.5 million to support the development of more than 175 West Side businesses. Her team has also coordinated $10 million in social impact investing funds pooled by WSU hospitals, American Medical Association, Illinois Medical District and Northern Trust to increase access to capital for west side communities through 600 low interest loans curated by Community Development Financial Institution partners to support affordable housing, community projects and other economic development projects.