Initiative News | Minority Health Disparities Initiative

Save the Date for MHDI's April Health Equity Grand Rounds

Mark your calendars for MHDI's Health Equity Grand Rounds event on April 4, 2024, from 1:00 to 2:30 PM CT via Zoom! It will feature a presentation by Alex Kral on "Overdose Prevention Sites: Global and Domestic Research, Policy and Implementation."

To Learn More and Register: https://events.unl.edu/MHDI/2024/04/04/177419/
Click here for additional event details.

University saluted by Carnegie Foundation for excellence in community engagement

The Carnegie Foundation has recognized the University of Nebraska–Lincoln for excellence in community engagement, citing its wide-ranging outreach efforts across the state.

Nebraska is among nearly 400 U.S. universities that have received a community engagement classification from the foundation, including 40 in this round. The Carnegie organization designates universities for such achievement only after they provide an extensive review and documentation of their civic engagement activities.

Grand Round on racially discordant health communication is Oct. 4

Satveer Kaur-Gill will present “Racially Discordant Provider-Patient Communication during End-of-Life Conversations” at 1 p.m. Oct. 4 in the Nebraska Union Platte River Room. The talk will also be livestreamed via Zoom for those who are not able to attend in-person.

This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required for in-person and virtual options. Register by Sept. 22 to attend.

Speaker to present framework used to understand rural health inequities

Christal Badour will give a virtual talk, “Using a Health Equity Framework to Understand Trauma and Substance Use in Rural Appalachia,” at 1:30 p.m. Sept. 14.

The event is free and open to the public. Register for the Zoom link..

Co-Hosted Seminar on Using a Health Equity Framework to Understand Trauma and SU

MHDI is jointly hosting a seminar with the RDAR Center on September 14, 2023, at 1:30 PM CT via Zoom. Christal Badour, a licensed clinical psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Kentucky, will present “Using a Health Equity Framework to Understand Trauma and Substance Use in Rural Appalachia.” The seminar is FREE and OPEN to the public.

Learn More: https://events.unl.edu/MHDI/2023/09/14/173922/

University making strides toward N2025 engagement aim

The University of Nebraska–Lincoln has taken a significant step toward meeting its aim of broadening the University’s engagement in community, industry, and global partnerships as part of the N2025 strategic plan, a five-year plan launched in 2020.

Save the Date for MHDI's October Health Equity Grand Rounds

Mark your calendars for MHDI's Health Equity Grand Rounds event on October 4, 2023, from 1:00 to 2:30 PM CT in the Nebraska Union: Platte River Room. It will feature a presentation by Satveer Kaur-Gill on “Racially Discordant Provider-Patient Communication during End-of-Life Conversations." Learn more and register: https://events.unl.edu/MHDI/2023/10/04/169275/.
Click here for additional event details.

Tippens to present MHDI talk Sept. 28

Julie Tippens will present “Visual and Participatory Approaches to Identify Refugees’ (Mental) Health-Promoting Resources: A Photovoice Study with Yazidi Women” at 1 p.m. Sept. 28. The event is free and open to the public.

Read the story on Nebraska Today
Click here for additional event details.

Golden to present MHDI Health Equity Grand Rounds Feb. 8

Tasha Golden will give a talk on “Arts, Health and Health Equity: Opportunities for Impact” at 1 p.m. Feb. 8. This event is free and open to the public. 

Inaugural MHDI Health Equity Grand Rounds scheduled for Oct. 5

Laina Bay-Cheng will join the Minority Health Disparities Initiative at 1 p.m. Oct. 5 via Zoom, for the inaugural Health Equity Grand Rounds event.

Bay-Cheng will give a talk on “Capable of Risk: Sexual Vulnerability and Dignity in the Sexual Lives of Marginalized Youth.”

This event is free and open to the public. Registration is required.

Twins earn their Nebraska graduate hoods together

How did a pair of sisters from Liverpool, New York, find themselves at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln to pursue their graduate education? It was a mix of opportunity, love and twinning.

And as they graduate with their doctorates Aug. 13 at Pinnacle Bank Arena, twins Megan Cardwell and Marissa Oliver now call Nebraska a second home.

“We have come to feel like native Cornhuskers,” Cardwell said. “Graduating from Nebraska, (we’re) leaving with gifts we never thought we would encounter in this life.”

Nebraska team studying how social ties may boost health outcomes of Latinos facing discrimination

A University of Nebraska–Lincoln researcher is leading a team using National Institutes of Health funding to investigate how interpersonal discrimination gets “under the skin” for Latinos, creating wear and tear on the body that may ultimately lead to chronic health conditions like cardiovascular disease.

MHDI speaker series continues May 10 with Sharon Obasi

Sharon Obasi will give a talk, “Embodying Identity: Names, Gender, Equity,” at 1 p.m. May 10, as part of the Minority Health Disparities Initiative Health Equity Speaker Series.

This event is free and open to the public. Register here for the Zoom link.

In this talk, Obasi will expound on her scholarship examining the importance of names in acknowledging familial identity (kinship) and gender identity (renaming) and how identity may inform health equity.

Health care disparities in foster care focus of alumna's Nov. 18 talk

Sarah Beal will give a talk on “Understanding Disparities in Health Care Access and Use for Youth in Foster Care” at 1 p.m. Nov. 18 via Zoom.

The talk is free and open to the public. Register here to participate and receive the Zoom link.

Tippens to present MHDI talk Sept. 28

Edwards to give next Equity Series talk June 22

Katie Edwards will give a talk on “Preventing Sexual and Dating Violence Among LGBTQ+ Youth Using Community-Engaged Approaches,” at 2 p.m. June 22, via Zoom.

This talk is part of the Minority Health Disparities Initiative’s Equity Speaker Series. It is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Achievements | Honors, appointments, publications for April 3

Learn more about recent honors and appointments at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in this week’s achievements column.

Visiting prof to discuss health challenges for Latino immigrants

The Minority Health Disparities Initiative Conversation Series continues with an April 2 discussion on “Population Health Challenges for Undocumented Latino Immigrants.”

The presentation, led by Alex Ortega, professor and chair of health management and policy at Drexel University, is 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Nebraska Union’s Heritage Room. The event is free and open to the public.

Registration open for Minority Health Disparities Conference

This year’s Minority Health Disparities Initiative Conference will begin at 9 a.m. Feb. 28 in the Nebraska Union Ballroom. The conference will focus on the intersection of rural Nebraskans and public health issues.

Attendees will learn more about areas of collaboration around rural health issues, identify ways in which data and technology are improving health care for rural populations, and develop strategies for achieving sustainability, including building capacity and healthcare infrastructure in rural areas.

Achievements | Honors, awards, publications for Oct. 12

Recent achievements for the campus community were earned by Kirk Dombrowski, Pete Pinnell, Wendy Smith, Megan Eckstrom, Rachel Gordon, Riley Jhi, Shaobin Li and Rachel Phinney.

Exhibition displays perspective on migration in Nebraska

People have been moving throughout Nebraska for thousands of years. “Looking Past Skin: Our Common Threads” explores the movement of people from the earliest Native cultures to the most recent refugee families. Their rich traditions, unique languages, food and religions are all part of Nebraska’s story.

Smith to close out distinguished speaker series

The Minority Health Disparities Initiative is presenting Rebecca Smith, from the University of California, San Francisco, as its final speaker of the academic year.

Smith will be giving her talk at the Nebraska Union, Colonial A-B at 10:30 a.m. April 28.

Smith started her career in science education as a scientist volunteer in Science and Health Education Partnership’s programs while a graduate student in biochemistry at UCSF. Her partnerships with extraordinary teachers and their students convinced her that this was a career path she wanted to pursue.

Minority Health Disparities lecture series continues March 31

The Minority Health Disparities Initiative will feature the University of Arizona’s Russell Toomey in a 10:30 a.m. March 31 lecture in the Nebraska Union’s Heritage Room. The talk is free and open to the public.

Minority Health Disparities Initiative talk is March 10

Mohan Dutta, chair and professor of communications and new media at National University of Singapore, will discuss “Communication, Global Inequalities and Social Change: A Culture-Centered Approach” in a 11 a.m. March 10 talk in Andrews Hall, Bailey Library.

The talk, which is free and open to the public, is hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Minority Health Disparities Initiative.

UNL workshop brings visual literacy into focus

A new workshop focusing on media literacy is being offered to all state educators by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Minority Health Disparities Initiative.

Sessions in the two-day seminar will focus on visual media literacy, critical thinking about visual media and incorporating those skills into elementary, middle school and high school curricula.

UNL team to probe social networks by phone

University of Nebraska-Lincoln researchers have earned a three-year, $1.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to build a smart phone application and software that will analyze people’s behaviors, social networks and relationships in real time.

In addition to enabling UNL sociologists to track and examine future study participants’ interactions with others, the new network will collect exhaustive data that will inform research projects in areas such as public and rural health for years to come.

Minority Health Disparities Initiative ready to expand reach

Kirk Dombrowski gets excited when he talks about the upcoming academic year and the developments taking place in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Minority Health Disparities Initiative.

With a new round of funding from the Nebraska Tobacco Settlement Trust Fund now in place, the initiative is heading into its fourth year with goals that he hopes will leave an indelible mark on the state.

Among them: increasing the initiative’s presence in Nebraska towns and cities to develop focused and needed research.