APHA
Back to Annual Meeting Page
 
American Public Health Association
133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition
December 10-14, 2005
Philadelphia, PA
APHA 2005
 
3231.0: Monday, December 12, 2005 - Board 6

Abstract #119382

Poster Award Finalist: Changing the paradigm in academia: How researchers can deliver experimental designs focused on solving environmental and health disparities in communities of color

Christopher D. Heaney, MS, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, UNC-CH, CB# 7435, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7435, Omega R. Wilson, MA, LUTCF, United States Environmental Protection Agency Collaborative Problem Solving Project, West End Revitalization Association-WERA, PO Box 661, Mebane, NC 27302-0661, 919-563-8857, wera@wera-nc.org, Sacoby M. Wilson, MS, Robert Wood Johnson, Health and Society Scholars Program, University of Michigan, 1849 Addington Lane, Ann Arbor, MI 48104, and John Cooper, PhD, MDC, Inc., Program for the Rural Carolinas, 17268, Chapel Hill, NC 27510.

There exists unwillingness among many researchers in academia to commit time, energy and resources into research projects that are truly community-driven and community-owned. Current traditional research is focused upon university control of funding sources, data collection, and dissemination of data through publication. The formation of collaborative partnerships between researchers and community environmental justice and environmental protection non-profit organizations, however, is a highly effective means of solving environmental and public health problems in underserved communities of color across the United States. This presentation will focus on a successful collaboration with the West End Revitalization Association (WERA) in Mebane, NC. We will highlight the shift in approach required by academicians and researchers to develop experimental designs that solve environmental health disparities problems in underserved communities of color and avoid exacerbating these problems and exploiting residents of these communities.

Learning Objectives:

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Environment Section Student Poster Session

The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA