Collaborating for Success
In the words of Stephen Covey, "Change happens at the speed of trust” and public health happens at the speed of partnerships that are built on trust. At the Center for Health Equity, we believe that the work on social and structural drivers of health cannot be achieved by any single agency, and can only be successful through partnerships built on trust, readiness to collaborate, have clear value propositions, and are aligned towards achieving similar goals. We believe in being an ally, supporting, catalyzing and accelerating our partners’ efforts in achieving health equity. We are dedicating this issue of our quarterly newsletter to our partners and collaborators. And, in this spirit of partnership, I would like to highlight our collective accomplishments as well as some exciting new partnerships:
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In a new partnership with the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation (CHLPI) at Harvard Law School, we are excited to co-host two webinars: 1) Payment Pathways for Food Is Medicine Programs & other NMDOH in Texas webinar where we explore how stakeholders can build upon Food Is Medicine work to leverage policy opportunities and address the nutrition-related medical, social, and population needs of Texans on June 5, 2024 and 2) In the fall- Community Based Organizations and Healthcare Partnerships Readiness and Policy Best Practices Webinar focused on collaboration between healthcare and community based organizations.
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We are also partnering with Allison Karpyn, PhD, at the University of Delaware to support a new project that will allow for furthering of research on food insecurity related stigma to ultimately inform the development of a stigma intervention toolkit for food insecurity. This 12-month project, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Healthy Eating Research and led by Dr. Karpyn, will partner with the Health Equity Collective food security workgroup members to achieve project goals. To learn more, you can join in HEC food security workgroup meeting on June 28, 2024 registering here.
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This spring, in partnership with the Texas Non-Medical Drivers of Health Consortium, Center faculty Ryan Ramphul, PhD, launched an interactive food insecurity map. Dr. Ramphul's map allows viewers to see food insecurity summary statistics and current Food Is Medicine programs by county or congressional district across the state. This map additionally visualizes food insecurity by census tract across the Greater Houston region.
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In May 2024, we also launched our first summer intensive health equity fellowship. Led by Center Assistant Professor Jemima John, PhD, MPH, this summer intensive fellowship experience was developed in partnership with students at our school who deeply informed the process and content of this fellowship experience. We are excited to announce our two inaugural fellows: Ruchi Pavaskar, MPH, BDS and Dimga Odinakachukwu, MPH(c).
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And lastly, I would like to spotlight the launch of our Mom Community Advisory Group. In March 2024, in response to our Food Is Medicine efforts and with generous support from the Walmart Foundation, our Community and Stakeholder Engagement Studio launched an advisory group of mothers who have previously participated in our regional Food Is Medicine programs such as prescriptions for produce. This advisory group brings a new partnership with a community of mothers to inform the design, implementation and evaluation of our Food Is Medicine efforts.
Partnerships that allow us to leverage each other’s strengths and expertise are the cornerstone towards our shared population health outcomes. We look forward to continuing to build in this space.
Sincerely,
Shreela Sharma, PhD, RDN, LD
Director, Center for Health Equity
UTHealth Houston
School of Public Health
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Partnering to Improve Nutrition
In March, as part of national nutrition month, we highlighted several of our partnership-based initiatives contributing to improved nutrition. Our collaboration with Brighter Bites continues to bear fruit as we hit the national spotlight. PhD students, Mackenzie Senn, MPH, and Angela Zieba, MPH, discuss a nutrition program helping teachers, and Research Coordinator & Dentist, Alejandra Quintanilla-Garcia, DDS, MPH, highlights the crucial link between dental & dietary health through CATCH Healthy Smiles.
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The CHE continues to receive funding to advance its mission:
Dr. Jemima John was awarded $5,000 by the University of Texas Kenneth I. Shine, M.D., Academy of Health Science Education to support a seven-week Student-Informed Summer Intensive Fellowship.
The Cullen Trust for Health Care has also awarded the Health Equity Collective additional funding to continue the ongoing demonstration project to further enhance organizational capacity to receive closed-loop referrals through the Community Information Exchange (CIE) ecosystem.
The Humana Foundation has funded a research project to implement and evaluate the impact of the Brighter Bites Produce Prescription program on improving food insecurity, nutrition security and health outcomes in pediatric populations receiving care at UTPhysicians.
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The CHE has received funding from the Walmart Foundation through the Walmart.org Center for Racial Equity to research and develop a produce prescription program to boost maternal health outcomes.
Read more here
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 |  | Esperanza (Hope) Galvan, PhD, MS, CVRN-BC, CDCES, Vice President Population Health Transformation at Harris Health System is a doctoral-trained nurse and has been a leader in population health and health equity efforts for Texas for over the past two decades. As a bedside nurse, she had witnessed patient barriers which not even the best clinical care could solve, leading to her efforts and collaborations in addressing non-medical drivers of health. In 2017, she launched the award-winning Harris Health Food Farmacy program where she first partnered with Dr. Sharma, in advancing food security efforts at Harris Health. Dr. Galvan’s partnership with the Center for Health Equity is deep and wide. She serves on the Center for Health Equity Executive Advisory Team, Steering Committee of the Health Equity Collective as co-lead of the food security workgroup, and serves in a leadership role of various partnership efforts between Harris Health System and Center for Health Equity, including the PCORI-funded Health System Implementation Initiative, Produce Rx in High Risk Pregnant Mothers at Harris Health System, and the Health Equity Collective closed-loop referral demonstration project. Dr. Galvan’s commitment to our community’s health and persistent passion to improve population health is nothing short of extraordinary and we are grateful for this commitment.
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Andrea Ramirez Varela MD, MPH, PhD, is an Assistant Professor and Physician Scientist at the Department of Epidemiology, and McGovern Medical School Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Ramirez Varela works at the intersection of public health, physical activity epidemiology, and health policy research. Her research interests include epidemiology, public health surveillance, health policy research, preventive medicine, and global public health capacity for disease prevention, especially in Latin America. | |  |
Anna Gitter, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences at the School of Public Health whose research integrates water resources management and public health. She has a background in environmental science and water management and has worked on environmental water quality issues in Texas. Her current work involves public health preparedness through wastewater epidemiology, evaluating and innovating water management practices in light of climate change and public health needs , and advancing human health risk modeling to assess environmental exposures. | | |
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Morgan Bily, MPH, RDN, CSP, LD, joined the CHE in April 2024 as a program manager. She leads the Produce Rx in High-Risk Pregnant Mothers at Harris Health System study. Prior to joining CHE, Morgan spent four years as a pediatric clinical dietitian helping children and families navigate their nutritional needs and limitations resulting from renal disease. Morgan will begin the doctoral program in epidemiology starting in the fall of 2024. Her interests include spending quality time with family and friends, cooking, and walking.
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CHE Student Dissertations | |
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Nivedhitha Parthasarathy, PhD, examined the shifts in dietary behaviors and associated determinants among elementary-aged school children amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of her study showed that children’s unhealthy food consumption reduced during the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period, accompanied by improvements in their home food environment.
Collaboration with Brighter Bites made this evaluation possible.
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Maha Almohamad, PhD, study found that that higher nutrition security was significantly associated with lower odds of cardiometabolic outcomes (hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and diabetes) risk among low-income individuals experiencing food insecurity in the United States.
This dissertation was made possible thanks to funding from the Center for Nutrition & Health Impact.
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Mallika Mathur, PhD, examined several parent, provider, and health system-level barriers preventing children from receiving an early autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis, which is critical for children’s development, especially among underserved populations.
Support and collaboration with the Department of Pediatrics faculty from the McGovern Medical School was instrumental in the completion of this dissertation.
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All projects should aim to identify and evaluate policies, environmental approaches, and systems changes that advance health and nutrition equity.
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Texas NMDOH Consortium Policy Generation Workshop
Interactive workshop for attendees to help generate actionable proposals for integrating non-medical services into healthcare
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Texas NMDOH Constortium Policy Generation Workshop
Interactive workshop for attendees to help generate actionable proposals for integrating non-medical services into healthcare
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Are there any upcoming events or seminars you would like to share with our community? Please email Naomi Tice with more information naomi.tice@uth.tmc.edu | |
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Design, protocol and baseline data of Nurturing Healthy Teachers, a cluster non-randomized controlled trial to improve the health, well-being, and food security of preschool and elementary school teachers in Houston, Texas
Written by: Shreela V. Sharma, Mackenzie Senn, Angela Zieba, Miao Tang, Ru-Jye Chuang, Courtney Byrd-Williams, Mike Pomeroy, Azar Gaminian, Jill Cox, Katherine French, and Nalini Ranjit
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The Time-Dependent Association Between Irritable Bowel Syndrome and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality: A Prospective Cohort Study Within the UK Biobank
Written by: Fangyu Li, Yukiko Yano, Lola Étiévant, Carrie R Daniel, Shreela V Sharma, Eric L Brown, Ruosha Li, Erikka Loftfield, Qing Lan, Rashmi Sinha, Baharak Moshiree, Maki Inoue-Choi, Emily Vogtmann
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Circulating Omega-3 and Omega-6 Fatty Acids, Cognitive Decline and Dementia in Older Adults
Written by: Marcia C. de Oliveira Otto, Jason H.Y. Wu, Evan L. Thacker, Heidi Tsz Mung Lai, Rozenn N. Lemaitre, Nikhil Padhye, Xiaoling Song, Irena B. King, Oscar Lopez, David S. Siscovick, and Dariush Mozaffarian
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You can find these publications along with other resources on the CHE’s Resource Hub page. | | | | | | |
