Center for Health Equity Celebrates 10 Years

The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity is celebrating 10 years amidst the global pandemic of COVID-19.

2020 marks a particularly momentous and exciting time at the Center for Health Equity. Our dedicated team of researchers, staff, and partners have also made significant progress in our research and advocacy work.

Key Milestones of the Center for Health Equity: 

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  • 2010

    • The Center was established with a program project grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health 

    • Launched three multi-level intervention trials – Project Red Chip, ACT Study, and Five Plus Nuts and Beans for Kidneys

    • Established a Community Advisory Board along with other infrastructure (methods, training, and administrative cores) to sustain the current and future studies and to insure rapid knowledge transfer between individual studies as well as the translation of evidence from the Center to clinical and public health practice and policy

  • 2015

    • Selected by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to receive a $12.2 million research award to conduct the RICH LIFE Trial. The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) funded this award through the Hypertension Disparities Reduction Program Partnership with NIH and Westat 

    • Launched a monthly Health Equity Jam Session event series to provide an informal forum for colleagues, trainees, and community partners working on health equity research to discuss new research ideas and proposals, research-in-progress, responses to peer review, career development, collaboration, and funding, and to inspire and energize one another

  • 2016

    • Received a grant from the National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities to conduct the Five Plus Nuts and Beans for Kidneys Trial

    • Center Director, Dr. Lisa Cooper recognized as a Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Distinguished Professor for her ground-breaking contributions to health equity research. This prestigious professorship aimed to strengthen Dr. Cooper’s cross disciplinary collaborations with colleagues across the University and to enhance her ability to address major world problems and teach the next generation. The professorship also further solidified the Center’s cross disciplinary mandate

  • 2017

    • Organizational name change to the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity to reflect broadening collaborations; interests in addressing a variety of social determinants of health and a range of health conditions; experiences engaging with several vulnerable and socially disadvantaged groups in the United States and with the African and Latino diasporas around the world; and our desire to incorporate life-course perspectives and inter-generational approaches 

    • Launched the Center’s first degree-level course, Applications of Innovative Methods in Health Equity Research, which won teaching awards in 2017, 2018, and 2019 

  • 2018

  • 2019

    • Co-sponsored several symposia, including The Fierce Urgency of Now, Achieving Health Equity Together, and 1619-2019: The Legacy of Slavery for Health Equity in Baltimore and Beyond 

  • 2020

In the future, we plan to:

  • Continue offering our monthly Jam sessions

  • Disseminate key lessons learned in the field of health equity research over the past decade and early results from our current research projects

There are many ways to celebrate this ten year mark. Our Center has worked hard to promote health equity for vulnerable populations. If you’d like to become involved with the Center’s work, or simply learn more about our unique approach to research, education and community engagement, please visit us online or get in touch here.

CHE Team