As a Co-Director of the Cornell Center for Health Equity, Lara Parrilla, M.P.H., brings a unique blend of academic insight, clinical partnership and grassroots connection to her work. Since 2019, she has worked as the Community & Academic Partnership Manager with Cayuga Health Partners and as a Visiting Lecturer in Cornell University’s Master of Public Health Program. In 2025, she became Director of Health Equity at Cayuga Health Partners and is supporting the development of its Center for Health Equity Transformation.

Lara’s path in public health began during Cornell’s Urban Semester, where she first encountered Cornell Cooperative Extension’s approach to building community capacity to address issues that matter to them. That experience sparked her commitment to advancing equity through authentic engagement, equitable and reciprocal partnerships and systems change.

At the intersection of academia, healthcare and public health, she helps build interdisciplinary teams to plan, implement and evaluate strategies to address systemic health inequities. This work has resulted in sustainable and scalable initiatives that remove barriers to health. In 2021, she supported a team of faculty, students and medical residents to integrate screening for unmet social needs, such as food, housing and transportation, into the clinical workflow. The program has since expanded to 13 primary care practices.

In 2022, to build the workforce needed to connect patients with local resources to address their needs, she worked with Cornell Cooperative Extension Tompkins County, the Cornell Office of Academic Discovery and Impact, Cornell Public Health and the David M. Einhorn Center for Community Engagement to develop the Social Resource Navigator Program. This Town-Gown award-winning program provides undergraduate pre-health students with comprehensive training and supervision to offer person-centered social care navigation services. Lara also established Cayuga Health’s first grant writing team, which secured $7.7 million from New York State to build the Community Health & Resource Network with the Human Services Coalition, making it easier for patients to access resources and services for food, housing, childcare, legal services and more.

She credits her many mentors at Cooperative Extension, Cornell University and Cayuga Health for shaping her approach to student engagement, community impact and population health. Her advice to students and future public health leaders is to stay curious and explore opportunities that connect you with your community.

Outside of work, Lara finds balance through yoga, trail running, salsa dancing and drumming.

Through her leadership and deep community commitment, she continues to advance the Center’s mission of creating healthier, more equitable communities.

Monika Safford, M.D., Amy McMenamin, RN, Ph.D., the Community Engagement Core’s Cornell Cooperative Extension and Center Community Partner Ariel Barasch, B.S., are collaborating with the nonprofit NYC Love Kitchen and the Bea Fuller Rogers School in Washington Heights to develop a program to improve cardiovascular health in the school community. Since March 2025, they have collaboratively developed the pilot program, which marries the Cooperative Extension’s Expanded Food and Nutrition Education Program teaching about healthy eating with a Promotora de Salud education and behavior change program around Life’s Essential 8, the American Heart Association’s metric for cardiovascular health. Strongly supported by Principal Carlos Pichardo and a private philanthropist, they trained 6 Promotoras de Salud over the summer with the help of several summer interns. Through the program, the Promotoras are now teaching other parents at the school how to make healthy lifestyle choices, improving the health of a community that faces disparities in cardiometabolic health outcomes.

An after-school program aimed at teaching New York City middle schoolers nutrition, culinary skills and career readiness was one of the casualties of the federal government's rescission of grant funding. The Advanced Cooking Education (ACE) 4-H After School Club, led by Center member Tashara M. Leak, Ph.D., M.S., offered weekly hands-on sessions to 7th and 8th graders from low-income schools, blending wellness education with exposure to careers in food, agriculture and nutrition.

Students in these programs ate healthier, exercised more and gained exposure to future job paths, especially those from underserved communities. The research highlights these programs as low-cost activities that promote health equity and long-term public health impact. We hope Dr. Leak will have her funding restored soon.

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The United Hospital Fund (UHF) is the New York State lead supporting implementation of the New York 1115 Medicaid Waiver. Part of this effort includes building connections and capacity within regions and across designated Social Care Networks. Center Co-Directors Lara Parrilla, M.P.H. and Gen Meredith, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., lead a team that includes members of the Cornell Health Impacts Core that was funded by UHF to organize community convenings in the Southern Tier and Central Regions, demonstrating the Center’s growing reputation for community engagement.

The first 2 convenings brought together close to 200 people to explore the most pressing health issues affecting Medicaid beneficiaries in each region, including chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, and depression. Participants focused on disparities in both care access and outcomes, and on identifying and celebrating successful implementation models. The next convenings in January 2026 will focus on workforce development needs.  

At Cayuga Primary Care Ithaca Mall, a group of internal medicine residents initiated a quality improvement project centered on health equity. Currently, only 51% of eligible patients are up to date with cervical cancer screening, well below the regional average of 85% and below the network average of 71%.

To address this gap, the team introduced “Have a Uterus? Get it Papped!”, a multifaceted effort that combines enhanced clinical documentation tools with community outreach at Southside Community Center. The goal is to raise awareness, improve scheduling and increase screening rates. We hope this initiative continues to grow through provider adoption and deeper partnerships to improve health equity across Ithaca. 

The Cornell Center for Health Equity and the Cayuga Center for Health Equity Transformation co-hosted a half-day event with 50 local leaders, including Cornell faculty, healthcare providers and community organization representatives, to explore innovative strategies for addressing health inequities. To support data-driven proposals, the event featured a data walk with 48 posters showcasing county-level public data, electronic medical records from Cayuga Health Partners and needs assessments from Tompkins County Whole Health and the Rural Health Institute of New York, stratified by county, race, ethnicity and social needs wherever possible.

Five teams were awarded $5,000 grants by Center partner Cayuga Health to launch community-driven projects in the Ithaca area or at Cayuga:

• Sustained Dietary Behavior Change in Group Settings – Gen Meredith, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., Cornell University
• Community-driven Public Health Narratives – Elizabeth Fox, Ph.D., RDN, Cornell University Public Health
• Increasing Mammography Access Without Referrals – Michael Berlin, M.D., Cayuga Health
• Arts as a Health Equity Intervention – Judy Griffin, M.D., Cayuga Medical Center
• Community Care Hub for Cardiometabolic Health – Amy Carver, M.B.A., Cayuga Health Partners

Cayuga Health and Foodnet Meals on Wheels have partnered to launch a new Community Dining site at The Shops at Ithaca Mall. This initiative aims to improve access to nutritious meals and social interaction for older adults in Tompkins County. The program is part of a broader effort to address health equity and social determinants of health. In addition to meals, the events may include educational sessions on topics like nutrition and scam awareness. The initiative is supported by the Tompkins County Office for the Aging, New York State Office for the Aging and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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Research from Center member (and past Co-Director) Jeff Niederdeppe, Ph.D., M.A. explored how different messaging strategies about expanding the Child Tax Credit (CTC) affect public support across racial and political groups. Researchers conducted two randomized trials with diverse samples of U.S. adults, comparing a universalist message (benefits all children) and a targeted universalist message (benefits all, with added gains for Black and Hispanic children) to a neutral control. Both messages increased support and advocacy among Black and Hispanic respondents, while the universalist message also boosted support among White participants. Importantly, the targeted universalist message did not reduce support among White or Republican respondents. These findings suggest that inclusive, well-designed messages can effectively build broad support for redistributive policies.

Center member Elizabeth Baquero, Ed.D., M.S., authored Chapter 6: "The Hispanic/Latino Population and Health Disparities: Issues, Concerns and Remedies," in the newly released third edition of Achieving Health Equity: Context, Controversies, and Remedies. The chapter also includes an interview with Christopher Gonzalez, M.D., MSc, whose research centers on diabetes prevention in Latinos.

Her contribution provides an in-depth examination of the systemic barriers impacting Hispanic and Latino communities in the U.S., highlighting factors such as socio-economic challenges, limited access to culturally competent care, and the influence of immigration status on health outcomes.

Center member Erica Phillips, M.D., M.Sc., contributed to a book titled Structural Inequalities and Health Outcomes for Chronic Disease (Elsevier, 1st Edition) and authored Chapter 8: "Structural Inequalities and Chronic Disease Health Outcomes: Cancer."

The chapter explores a multilevel framework showing how upstream factors like discrimination and stigmatization shape downstream health outcomes. These influences are categorized across four living environments: social, physical, economic and service.

September Seminar Speaker Thistle Elias, Dr.P.H., M.P.A., presented on “Sharing Benefits and Power in Community Engaged Practice” in the September seminar. She discussed how qualitative and mixed methods (photovoice, story chair, paired interviews) amplify the voices of marginalized individuals and improve health outcomes across various demographics, including income, gender, ethnicity and disability. She integrated real-world partnerships into teaching and mentorship, preparing students for impactful, justice-oriented careers. 

October Seminar Speaker Sarah Matt, M.D., M.B.A., presented “The Equity Trap: Why Our Obsession with the Word is Killing the Work (And a Way Out).” Her talk focused on the five pillars of care: geography, culture, finance, trust and knowledge (with particular attention to misinformation as well as the importance of relationship building) and digital access. She emphasized the need to design solutions for individuals who are least connected or unfamiliar with advanced technology. She also highlighted the vital role of community liaisons in building trust, facilitating communication and bridging gaps between health systems and underserved populations. Throughout her presentation, she underscored the importance of effective health communication and the need to address structural barriers to truly advance equity in care.

Fifty researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Duke University came together for the annual Summer Institute of the NIH-funded study, REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke - Myocardial Infarction (REGARDS-MI) study led by Center Co-Director Monika Safford, M.D. The gathering sparked vibrant discussions around ongoing research, fresh insights into cardiovascular disease and the complex ways social determinants of health influence outcomes across diverse populations. Attendees planned new initiatives and deepened collaborations, reinforcing the study’s key role in advancing equitable stroke prevention and care.

Numerous Weill Cornell Medicine students and fellows attended the meeting, which provided excellent training opportunities. If you are interested in developing a study with this team, please contact Center member and program manager Vanessa Dudley, who also serves as program manager for the REGARDS-MI study.

Center member (and past Co-Director) Jeff Niederdeppe, Ph.D., M.A., presented at Weill Cornell Medicine’s David Rogers Health Policy Colloquium in September, discussing “The Science of Health Policy Communication”. Drawing from rigorous evidence-based strategies, he emphasized how communication plays a pivotal role in shaping policy outcomes: economically, socially and institutionally. From agenda setting and persuasive framing to coalition building and mobilization, the talk unpacked how targeted messaging can influence decision-makers and engage key stakeholders. The session also highlighted the importance of systematic observation and replicable experimentation in crafting impactful health policy narratives.

Center member Dhruv Khullar, M.D., M.P.P., joined CNN News to talk about the impact the proposed budget bill will have by expanding work requirements for Medicaid recipients. The bill could deepen health inequities by stripping coverage from millions of low-income Americans, many already working or caregiving, through stricter Medicaid and Affordable Care Act requirements. He noted it would hurt marginalized communities most, all without boosting employment.

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More than 1.4 million Floridians have lost Medicaid coverage during the nationwide “unwinding” process, with many disenrollments stemming from missed paperwork rather than actual ineligibility.

Center member and Weill Cornell Medicine Associate Director of the Research Core William Schpero, Ph.D., emphasized that these procedural losses disproportionately impact low-income and minoritized communities, deepening existing health inequities by leaving eligible individuals uninsured and without access to care. He also warned that safety-net providers serving these populations will face increased financial strain, especially as Medicaid undergoes further cuts under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

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