Center for Health Equity

We are excited to announce the newest addition to our team! Please join us in welcoming Kiana Bess, PhD, MPH as a post-doctoral research fellow with the Center for Health Equity and McGovern Medical School Department of Pediatrics. ?? Dr. Bess brings a wealth of knowledge and passion for advancing health equity, particularly in children and adolescents. Her research focuses on critically examining the non-medical drivers of health, with a specific interest in how neighborhood environments and housing insecurities influence child and adolescent health outcomes. Methodologically, Dr. Bess utilizes community-engaged, mixed-methods, and GIS approaches to investigate the pathways through which these social determinants impact health outcomes. Dr. Bess earned her PhD from the University of Michigan School of Public Health and her MPH from George Washington University. We are thrilled to have her expertise as part of our team as we continue to address the root causes of health inequities.

As we enter the season of gratitude, we are grateful for the opportunity for partnership, stewardship and collaboration with all of you who share our vision of building healthy people across flourishing communities. And just so you know all who are working everyday diligently and thoughtfully towards our shared goals, here is a picture of our Center team and their smiling faces. Wishing everyone a peaceful, joyful thanksgiving filled with tasty and healthy food and wonderful memories.

Monday, November 18th marks National Injury Prevention Day, and throughout the month, we proudly recognize the cause with the color green. This week, the Injury Prevention Team, alongside injury prevention coordinators from local healthcare organizations and first responders, at UT Physicians was honored with a state proclamation and a City of Houston proclamation in recognition of National Injury Prevention Day. In support of this important cause, both City Hall and the UTHealth Professionals Building were illuminated with green lights. We are proud to collaborate across The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) system, alongside our partners on the Community Advisory Board, to continue advancing efforts in injury prevention. To learn more about this impactful collaboration, click here: https://lnkd.in/gxCRDVUH

Doctoral student in Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences and graduate research assistant at the Center for Health Equity, Lorena Macías Navarro, presented her work on the Development and Evaluation of a Self-Efficacy Scale to Overcome Barriers to Prepare and Consume Healthy Meals at the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative Symposium hosted at the University of Utah. This research aligns with the transformative potential of teaching kitchens as "living laboratories," combining the principles of Food Is Medicine (FIM) and culinary medicine to address chronic health conditions through practical, food-based solutions, with a health equity lens. ? Teaching kitchens bridge the gap between knowledge and action, equipping individuals with the skills to cook, eat, move, and think more healthfully. These spaces embody the FIM approach by showing how food can serve as both prevention and treatment. They amplify the benefits of culinary medicine—an evidence-based field that integrates nutrition and cooking education into clinical care—to inspire sustainable behavior changes that improve both personal and planetary health. As the FIM movement gains national attention, teaching kitchens play an important role in making these programs effective and scalable. Events like the Teaching Kitchen Collaborative Symposium spotlight the potential of teaching kitchens as a cornerstone of health equity and food systems transformation. ? We are inspired by the momentum in the field and committed to advancing this critical work in Texas and beyond. Together, we can answer the question: “What can we do together that we cannot do on our own?” ? #FoodIsMedicine #TeachingKitchens #CulinaryMedicine #HealthEquity #ChronicDiseasePrevention #PolicyChange #TexasLeadership

Exciting news from the Center for Health Equity! Faculty member, Ryan Ramphul, PhD, will be presenting at the upcoming Houston Area GISday Conference this Friday, November 22nd. This event, sponsored by the Houston-Galveston Area Council and University of Houston-Clear Lake, highlights the innovative use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) across the Greater Houston region. GIS tools, or mapping software, play a key role in understanding the spatial relationships between various health determinants and outcomes. Dr. Ramphul will share his recent research on the role of GIS in examining the intersection of non-medical health drivers—such as poverty rates and uninsured populations—and health outcomes like diabetes and asthma. His findings underscore the urgent need to address the social determinants of health: communities with higher rates of poverty and uninsured individuals are often at greater risk for chronic diseases and have shorter life expectancies. ?? Registration is still open! Don’t miss this opportunity to engage with local experts. https://lnkd.in/e8_MW7w ?? A recent collaboration Dr. Ramphul has been involved in is with the Texas NMDOH Consortium, where he's mapped food insecurity rates across the state and examined partnerships between food providers and healthcare organizations. To learn more about this impactful project, visit the link below:

A recent study estimated the prevalence of overweight and obesity in the U.S. from 1990 to 2021, with forecasts to 2050, highlighting the alarming trends across both children and adults. Key findings include: ?? Prevalence: In 2021, 15.1 million children (ages 5-14), 21.4 million adolescents (ages 15-24), and 172 million adults (ages 25+) had overweight or obesity. ?? Regional Disparities: Texas has the highest prevalence of overweight/obesity in male adolescents, while Mississippi leads for female adolescents. Among adults, North Dakota and Mississippi have the highest prevalence rates for males and females, respectively. ?? Trends: The rise in obesity rates has outpaced the increase in overweight individuals, especially among adolescents. Between 1990 and 2021, obesity increased by nearly 160% among male adolescents and 186% among female adolescents. ?? Future Projections: By 2050, an additional 47.1 million individuals in the U.S. could be living with overweight or obesity, bringing the total to 256 million, or over half of the population. In most states, one in three adolescents and two in three adults are projected to have obesity by 2050. As we look toward the future, this study calls for urgent action at both the national and local levels to prevent further escalation of this public health crisis. That's why our work and collaboration are so critical! https://lnkd.in/g8HvDANt

On Tuesday, November 12th, the Community Advisory Group (CAG) for the NIH-funded Hospital-Based Violence Intervention Program (HVIP) gathered to continue their important work. This initiative is a key part of the Center for Health Equity’s Community Stakeholder & Engagement Studio (CSES), which fosters meaningful partnerships by directly integrating community insights into research and intervention design. The CAG has met multiple times this year to provide valuable input into the development of this program. To honor National Injury Prevention Day, which takes place on November 18th, attendees wore green as a symbol of solidarity. On this day, organizations across the nation will come together to raise awareness about the critical issue of injury and violence, which affect individuals of all ages and backgrounds. Injury is the leading cause of death and disability for people aged 1-44, underscoring the urgent need for initiatives like HVIP. The feedback and perspectives shared by the CAG are instrumental in shaping an intervention that is truly community-driven and responsive to the needs of those most affected by violence and injury. To read more about the CSES and HVIP, click here: https://lnkd.in/gxCRDVUH. If interested in engaging with the CSES, please reach out to Sr. Program Manager, Anne Marie Thompson, MPH, CHES, CLC ([email protected]).

The Health Equity Collective, a collective impact-based systems coalition focused on improving care coordination for social determinants of health in the Greater Houston region, is hosting a virtual networking session on substance use & policy response,e dnesday, November 13th 8:30am-9:30am. It's not too late to register. See registration information below: https://lnkd.in/gk-D3cQ2

The Texas NMDOH Consortium and #MichaelandSusanDellCenterforHealthyLiving, a research center at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) are co-hosting a webinar that will explore innovative strategies to enhance the value of healthcare spending. The conversation will highlight policy options from the recent report published through Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy to build on and initiate programming addressing the non-medical needs of priority populations and health conditions. ?? Thursday, November 21, 12pm-1pm CT Be sure to register here: https://lnkd.in/g94grm-e

We invite you to explore an important publication that sheds light on the critical role of seafood processors within our essential workforce! This qualitative research, conducted by researchers Shannon Guillot-Wright, PhD, Laura Porterfield, Brenda K. Wilson, and Lacy Davis with 44 participants, reveals significant findings: ?? In addition to the pre-existing high occupational health hazards, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated financial risks for these workers. ?? Key themes identified in the research include paid sick leave, mental health, economic duress, and access to primary care. The researchers conclude with three actionable recommendations for the H-2B visa worker program, aimed at not only reducing health disparities for immigrant workers but also enhancing health equity across seafood worker populations. Shannon Guillot-Wright, PhD is an Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences (EOHS) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health and is the Director of Policy & Practice at the Center for Violence Prevention. She also leads the Total Worker Health? program and is a faculty member at the research center, Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, a research center in the Dept of EOHS. Lacy Davis, MA, contributes as the Continuing Education and Outreach Director at the Southwest Center for Occupational and Environmental Health.