Past Webinars & Podcasts

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Webinars:

Housing, Homelessness, and Health: What do we know about housing and health and what is being done?
January 17, 2024
Speakers Tom Byrne, MSW, PhD, Jeneczka Roman, MPH, and Elizabeth González Suárez, MA discussed how these issues are connected, what is being done, models of community development and pending legislation that could address some of the issues, as well as community perspectives. View recording of housing, homelessness and health here.

Universal Basic Income in the U.S. – Insights from Research and Practice
October 4, 2021
Experts speak on the evidence and practice for universal basic income as a social policy strategy for improving health and wellbeing. View recording of universal basic income.

Equitable Vaccine Distribution: Community Discussion of the National Academy of Medicine Framework
April 30, 2021
A community conversation on how we can ensure equity with COVID-19 vaccine in MA. View recording of equitable vaccine distribution.

Community Forum on Building the Public’s Trust in the COVID-19 Vaccine
October 28, 2020
A community discussion on how state guidelines for equitable vaccine distribution will be implemented locally to address vaccine hesitancy. View recording of community forum.

COVID-19 Research Community Forum Series
April – October 2020
Webinar series discussing COVID-19 research and health equity from Harvard Catalyst’s Community Engagement program, Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute, University of Massachusetts Center for Clinical and Translational Science, and Boston University Clinical & Translational Science Institute. View series here.

ThinkResearch Podcast Episodes:

Launched in 2019, our Community Engaged podcast series, produced in partnership with Harvard Catalyst’s ThinkResearch podcast, addresses topics ranging from LGBTQ health to homelessness.

Listen below:

Addressing Hypertension: Engaging Black Communities in Boston
November 15, 2023
Overview: “Without the input of the people in the community, I don’t think we would be essentially where we are,” says Ruth-Alma Turkson-Ocran, PhD. In this episode, Turkson-Ocran and Stephen Juraschek, PhD, of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, discuss their research study entitled “Groceries for Black Residents of Boston to Stop Hypertension.” The conversation focuses on how they’ve engaged the local community in their research as well as their work with Harvard Catalyst’s Community Coalition for Equity in Research.

Community Engaged: Equity in Research Part II
April 12, 2023
Overview: How can researchers reflect the diversity of community voices in their work? Community Coalition for Equity in Research members, Rosa Alemán, BA, of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, and Mark Kennedy, MBA, of the Boston Public Health Commission, discuss the importance of building relationships within communities.

Community Engaged: Equity in Research Part I
March 29, 2023
Overview: Join members of our Community Coalition for Equity in Research for the first of two conversations on their work, which is to serve as a trusted communication channel between researchers and community stakeholders, providing input on research proposals, among other tasks. Guests: Rosa Alemán, BA, American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, and Mark Kennedy, MBA, Boston Public Health Commission.

Implementation Science and Community Impact
August 10, 2022
Overview: Implementation science plays a critical role in supporting communities and health equity. Gina Kruse, MD, MPH, Massachusetts General Hospital, a faculty member in our Community Engagement program and lab director of the Implementation Science Center for Cancer Control Equity at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, discussed her work in this area.

Community Engaged: Understanding WIC & Factors Driving Its Utilization in Massachusetts
April 6, 2022
Overview: A discussion on research that investigates the factors that underlie low participation and early dropout in the Massachusetts Women, Infants & Children (WIC) program. Guests: Eric Rimm, PhD, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Rachel Colchamiro, MPH, RD, LDN, Massachusetts Department of Public Health, and Cristina Gago, MPH, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Ruslan Nikitin, PhD, health policy analyst for our Community Engagement program, serves as a guest host.

Making an Impact on COVID-19 Vaccination Efforts
August 11, 2021
Overview: This special podcast focused on a partnership to successfully deliver community testing and vaccination for marginalized communities in Massachusetts most impacted by COVID-19. Guests: Gina Kruse, MD, program faculty for our Community Engagement program, speaks with Eddie Taborda, MS, senior clinical research coordinator at Mass General Hospital, Rosa Torres, patient service coordinator at Mass General Hospital – Everett, and Daniel Cortez, community engagement specialist for the Chelsea Police Department.

Student Practice Placement Initiative
April 28, 2021
Overview: Ayesha Cammaerts, MBA, Boston Children’s Hospital Office of Community Health, and Hae In Kim, MPH, former intern in our Community Engagement program student practice placement initiative, discussed Kim’s experience as an intern working under the guidance of Cammaerts and what makes student practical placements successful. Rebekka Lee, ScD, our Community Engagement program director, served as guest host.

Homelessness and COVID-19
October 21, 2020
Overview: Karen Emmons, PhD, faculty lead for our Community Engagement program, interviewed Sheila Dillon, chief of Housing and director of Neighborhood Development for the City of Boston, and Jessie Gaeta, chief medical officer for Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program. Dillon and Gaeta discussed their combined efforts to help protect Boston’s homeless population from COVID-19. This episode was produced in partnership with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Initiative on Health and Homelessness.

Machine Learning and Health Equity
December 18, 2019
Overview: Harry Reyes, MAS, and Li Zhou, MD, PhD, of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, discussed their research using machine learning and natural language processing to improve data collection of LGBTQ patients.

How Laws Impact Health Disparities
November 20, 2019
Overview: S. Bryn Austin of Boston Children’s Hospital, Rahsaan Hall of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, and Janson Wu of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAAD), shared insights about the health and economic impacts of state laws on gender minorities and the development of a policy database.

Self-Reporting and Data Collection in Trans Health Outcomes
September 25, 2019
Overview: Ana Progovac, PhD, Cambridge Health Alliance, and Mason Dunn, who leads strategic efforts for Keshet, an organization dedicated to LGBTQ equality in Jewish life, discussed their research using data sets to identify suicide outcomes in transgender populations, the importance of partnering with community groups, and how findings can inform better policy and care.

Combating Bullying at School for LGBTQ Youth
August 28, 2019
Overview: Sari Reisner, ScD, Boston Children’s Hospital, and members of his research team discussed the tool they’ve developed, with funding support from Harvard Catalyst, to help combat LGBTQ bullying in schools.

Teach Them Young: Addressing the Childhood Obesity Epidemic Through After-School Program
February 22, 2017
Overview: Rebekka Lee, ScD, and the Harvard Prevention Research Center aim to find community-based solutions to obesity through interventions around nutrition and physical activity with local children in after-school programs.