CEC Director's Message

We hope to ensure that the Center, together through its core components (research, training/education, initial research projects and other evolving disparities researchers), will advance knowledge and interventions that are not only scientifically based, but also culturally-centered and of use to communities. Accordingly, our CEC addresses two of the NM CARES HD foci area: 1) how to access and build public trust; 2) how to engage the community as partners in the conduct of research that informs effective health disparity interventions.

--Lisa Cacari-Stone, PhD

About us

The main goal of the CEC is to find new ways to include the community as an equal partner in the research process.  The CEC will be working closely with New Mexico's communities and academic partners to help match research activities to community needs. Our vision is to shift from studying problems to creating solutions, to reduce health disparities in New Mexico.

We hope to ensure that the Center, together through its core components (research, training/education, initial research projects and other evolving disparities researchers), will advance knowledge and intervention that are not only scientifically based, but also culturally-centered and of use to communities.

As part of the NM CARES HD, the Community Engagement Core (CEC) will build a partnership, dedicated to research on health disparities, between UNM investigators and community residents in indigenous Native American and Hispanic communities in New Mexico

1. Create multi-directional authentic partnerships between academia and communities.
2. Promote UNM researcher reflection and organizational assessment of barriers and facilitators to community engagement and to develop action strategies and best practices for enhancing community trust and university-community partnerships.
3. Develop co-learning and mentoring opportunities through a cohort of "intercultural health disparity scholars".
4. Translate and co-disseminate findings with our community partners to enact practice, program, and policy interventions.

Community Engagement Core Staff

Lisa Cacari-Stone, PhD, is Director of the Community Engagement Core is Assistant Professor with the Department of Family and Community Medicine and Senior Research Fellow with the Robert Wood Johnson Center for Health Policy at UNM. She has been a national recipient of the W.K. Kellogg Doctoral Fellowship in Health Policy Research at the Heller School of Social Policy and Management, Brandeis University, where she received her doctoral degree in 2004. From 2005 to 2008, she served as an H. Jack Geiger Congressional Health Policy Fellow for Senator Edward M. Kennedy with the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. During that time, she also was a W.K. Kellogg Scholars in Health Disparities Program and Alonzo Yerby post-doctoral scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Cacari’s research explores the influences of border migration, and social policy upon health as well as the role of community engagement in developing interventions that might reduce those health disparities. She teaches two courses, "Health Policy Politics and Social Equity" and "Border, Migration and Latino Health" for graduate students in health and social sciences.

Nina Wallerstein, DrPH, is Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine, and was the founding Director of the Masters in Public Health Program at the University of New Mexico until 2007. She currently is the Director of the Center for Participatory Research, Institute for Public Health, Vice President's Office of Community Health; Director of Community Engagement and Research of the Clinical Translational Science Center, and Senior Fellow in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Center for Health Policy at UNM. She received her DrPH and MPH in Community Health Education at the School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley. For over 25 years, she has been involved in empowerment/popular education, and participatory research with youth, women, tribes, and community building efforts. She is the co-editor of Community Based Participatory Research for Health, 2nd edition, 2008 (with Meredith Minkler); co-author of Problem-Posing at Work: Popular Educator's Guide; and author of several other health and adult education books and over 100 articles and book chapters on participatory intervention research, adolescent health promotion, alcohol and addictions prevention research, empowerment theory, and popular health education. She has worked in Latin America with the Pan American Health Organization in participatory evaluation of healthy municipalities and communities, and in development of empowerment and health promotion trainings. Her current research interests focus on community capacity and health development in tribal communities, culturally appropriate translational intervention research, and community based participatory research processes and outcomes.

Clarence Hogue Jr., BA, is a Navajo/Diné from Fruitland, New Mexico and currently resides in Albuquerque. Clarence received his Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communications from Brigham Young University. He has been working in the youth development field for over ten years and has been supporting youth program development in American Indian communities in the southwest region of the U.S., including school based and community based programs. Clarence has also worked for his tribe supporting community and economic development projects. He consults with various organizations, i.e. schools, non-profits, community groups and provides project coordination and training services. Clarence has a strong interest in working with grassroots community initiatives and would like to pursue and focus his next career track around health advocacy for Native peoples and other underserved populations. Clarence will be working on the Community Engagement Core team as the Project/Research Coordinator.

Lucinda Cowboy, BS, is the Native American Liaison for the Community Engagement Core. She is a member of the Navajo tribe and is originally from ChiChilTah which is located about 30 miles south of Gallup, New Mexico. She has extensive experience with community outreach as a health educator and prevention specialist geared towards diabetes and substance abuse prevention. Her past role as community outreach specialist with Research Involving Outpatient Settings Network (RIOS Net) allowed her to engage and build partnerships with various groups and organizations in the Native American communities. Lucinda has provided the RIOS Net project results to various groups such as the Indian Health Service Health Boards, the Navajo Nation Chapter Houses, the Pueblo Health Councils and other Native American Coalitions. She enjoys interacting with the communities and receiving valuable feedback about research projects. Lucinda has lived in Albuquerque for the past 7 years and is happily married with one daughter. She is currently pursuing her Master’s Degree in Health Education.

Alison McGough-Madueña, BS, born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Graduated in 2005 from Rio Rancho High School and moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma to attend the University of Tulsa. Alison received a Bachelor of Science degree in Exercise and Sports Science with a minor in Biology and Pre-Med studies from the University of Tulsa in December of 2009. While in Tulsa became involved in a number of local non-profit organizations including the Day Center for the Homeless and interned at the Indian Healthcare Resource Center of Tulsa. Through membership in the Delta Delta Delta national sorority was able to help with the launch of the Reflections Body Image program and participate in a number of philanthropy events for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Enjoys traveling and the outdoors and while a student at TU was privileged to serve on a mission team in Malawi, Africa. Has a special interest in HIV/AIDS prevention and intervention programs. She is currently a student in the Masters of Public Health program with a concentration in Epidemiology.

Roberto Chené, MA, holds a BA in Philosophy, an MA in Pastoral Theology, and has done postgraduate work in Social Welfare Policy at Brandeis University. He is the director of the Center for Intercultural Leadership Training and Conflict Resolution in Albuquerque, N.M. He is deeply rooted in the Chicano Latino community and has taught “Cross-Cultural Education and “Latinos and Public Policy” at the University of New Mexico. He consults with many organizations in Multicultural Organizational Development and is currently working with two major religious organizations as they initiate programs to eliminate institutionalized racism. He has conducted trainings, presentations, and lectures throughout the U.S. and has worked in Mexico and South Africa. Roberto is motivated by his deep commitment to transform relationship of dominance into relationships based on equality. He is currently working on a book of reflections and lessons gleaned from his more than thirty years of practice in building of multicultural community.

Community and Scientific Advisory Council

Community and Scientific Advisory Council Meeting, November 2010

The Community and Scientific Advisory Council (CSAC) is comprised of key internal and externals Institutional and community stakeholders who provide critical review and guidance of the center’s developments and progress, and advises on future directions of the center. These stakeholders include:

Navigate to the Community and Scientific Advisory Council Bio Page

Navigate to the CSAC Report

Guiding Framework for Conducting Health Disparities Research with Communities in New Mexico

Based on principles of Intercultural Communication/Leadership and Community-Based Participatory Research, the NM CARES seeks to foster institutional reflection and change and cultivate partnerships and capacities for UNM to conduct health disparities research with and across diverse communities in New Mexico. The Guiding Framework depicts how the needed community and institutional changes can happen to overcome contextual barriers (discrimination, socio-economic inequity) when the research relationship and process are built upon principles of Intercultural Partnership and CBPR. Using this framework as a basis for engaging with communities, the NM CARES HD (Community Engagement Core) will be identifying and contacting academic and community partners to become Intercultural Health Disparity Scholars.

Intercultural Guiding Model for Conducting Health Disparities Research

Contextual Barriers:

• Socioeconomic inequity
• Racial/ethnic discrimination
• Inconsistent and disparate health care delivery
• Rural isolation and inadequate transportation
• Time required to translate research findings into practice

Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR):

CBPR is described as supporting “collaborative, equitable partnerships in all phases of the research.” This is achieved through a “co-learning and capacity building” process among all partners.” All research findings and knowledge gained is disseminated to all partners. CBPR involves a “long-term process and commitment.”

Source: Israel et al. 2003, pp. 56-58

Principles of CBPR:

• Cultivate sustainable partnerships
• Cooperate and collaborate
• Foster bi-directional learning and reciprocal knowledge
• Incorporate community theories into research
• Develop interventions for diverse communities
• Create new systems and build local capacities
• Disseminate research and knowledge to all partners
• Commit to long term community relationships, research and action
• Redress power imbalances
• Increase health equity

Source: Wallerstein and Duran 2009:e1-e6

Intercultural Communication and Leadership:

• Include cultural diversity at the center of how things are conceptualized and implemented across research projects.
• Expand the definition of community and research partners to Intercultural Allies who mutually advocate for each other to guarantee community voice and perspective in the outcomes relating to the elimination of health disparities.
• Be aware of power differentials between community experts and the research institution.
• Both partners step into a mediator role “for the community but not against the institution.”
• Engage in intercultural communication based on:

Mutuality  <<>> Respect   <<>>  Reciprocity  <<>>  Authenticity  <<>>  Trust  <<>>  Collaboration

Source: Chené 2010

Research with Communities:

In order to move towards institutional and community change, dialogues between academic and community members are needed. The focus of the on-going dialogues should be on “how” we shift our thinking about doing community research from using an “on/in” approach to a “with” modality.  The figure below illustrates a continuum of research that occurs between university’s and communities from doing research on, to in to with.

Anticipated Outcomes:

Organizational Assessment

The Community Engagement Core will conduct an internal organizational assessment of the UNM Health Science Center to assess the barriers and facilitators to conducting health disparities research with and across diverse communities in New Mexico.

The overarching goals of the project are:

1. To promote UNM researcher and leadership reflection and organizational assessment of barriers and facilitators to community engaged research, and to develop action strategies and best practices for enhancing community trust and university-community partnerships.
2. To promote dialogue for developing a framework, principles, and strategic actions for bidirectional health disparities research

Three research aims of this study are to:

1. Assess UNM HSC organizational barriers and facilitators, including those which reflect differentials of power, privilege, and race, to bi-directional health disparities research with communities.
2. Assess range of approaches to community engaged (or community participatory or partnered) health disparities research.
3. Assess promising practices for conducting community engaged (or community participatory or partnered) health disparities research.

The CEC staff has been working with the CSAC members in developing materials and in developing the institutional assessment.

Intercultural Health Disparity Scholars

Under AIM 3 the CEC will develop co-learning and mentoring opportunities through a cohort of “intercultural health disparity scholars” and summer co-learning institutes aimed at facilitating cross-cultural dialogue, understanding of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) methodologies, and capacity-building to bridge cultural and indigenous knowledge and practices with empirically supported theories and interventions to reduce health disparities outcomes.

Institutional Trainings

Completion of three series of trainings for the CEC staff was held in preparation for series of community-based dialogues and co-learning institutes as upcoming events in the community.

Historical Trauma – held on Friday, April 29

Dr. Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart addressed: Building research capacities to bridge cultural and indigenous knowledge and practices with empirically supported theories and interventions. Dr. Brave Heart introduces the concept of Historical Trauma and its impact on the health of American Indian/Alaska Native children, youth and their parents.  She also provides an overview of the Historical Trauma Unresolved Grief Intervention (HTUG) as an approach to addressing intergenerational massive group trauma healing.   

Intercultural Communication- held on Friday, May 6

Roberto Chene’, provided training for those that function in multicultural settings and the focus of the training was develop across racial and cultural allied relationships, intercultural leadership and creative conflict resolution skills. The training focused on guiding principles and strategies for developing mutually beneficial intercultural relationships and partnerships for conducting health disparities with communities.

Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR)- held on Wednesday, June 1

Dr. Nina Wallerstein provided a session on CBPR and related approaches, i.e., Participatory Action and Community-Engaged Research a “collaborative approach that equitably involves all partners in the research process…with the aim of combining knowledge and action for social change to improve community health and eliminate health disparities”(Kellogg Foundation). CBPR is an overall orientation, not a method which fundamentally changes the relationship between researchers and researched. The module explored how CBPR intersected with indigenous knowledge and methodology, including the challenges for academics and community members to co-construct knowledge for improved community health. 

NM CARES Health Disparities Center Fact Sheet

Upcoming Events

A series of community-based dialogues and co-learning institutes will be initiated with community-academic partners interested in or currently conducting health disparities research in four geographically diverse areas.  The goals of these community engagement activities are to:

• Facilitate cross-cultural dialogue and creative conflict resolution for conducting research with and across diverse communities in New Mexico;
• Understand and employ Community-Based Participatory Research methodologies;
• Build research capacities to bridge cultural and indigenous knowledge and practices with empirically supported theories and interventions; and
• Address research gaps and foster innovation and best practices to address and eliminate health disparities.

Intercultural Health Disparity (IHD) Scholars will be comprised of academic researchers, students and other community members (clinicians/providers, community members, traditional healers and local, state, and tribal policy makers) who are committed to conducting research aimed at eliminating health disparities.  IHD Scholars will be selected for their commitment to eliminating health disparities; fostering cross-cultural relationships; and interest in, and need for, developing intervention models that bridge community based knowledge with empirical evidence.  IHD Scholar teams we will be recruited from four communities in 2011: 

• Apache Nation (Mescalero)
• NM Border area (Southern Colonias, Las Cruces, Deming, Lordsburg & Silver City)
• Navajo Nation (Shiprock region)
• Albuquerque metro-area (South Valley & Southeast Heights)

Contact CEC Staff