Highlights of the Center for Health Equity Community Advisory Board Meeting
No one knows more about the challenges facing a community than members of that community. For this reason, the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Equity relies on Community Advisory Boards that bring together academic and clinical experts with local stakeholders who understand the specific barriers facing at-risk communities, and who can offer practical solutions to overcome them. Each study, as well as the Center itself, has a Community Advisory Board to help provide guidance, and Center faculty and staff look to these boards for advice at every stage of program and study development.
(Front left to right) Dr. Tanjala Purnell, Dr. Jill Marsteller, and Program Director Nancy Molello wait for the start of the December 2019 CAB meeting.
MARCH VIRTUAL QUARTERLY MEETING
The Center’s Community Advisory Board met on March 25, 2020, using the Zoom conferencing technology that is now the new norm for meetings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the need to use the remote meeting platform, a warm sense of community and support for the CHE’s mission was still evident among the 42 participants.
The meeting began with a tribute to the late Rev. Dr. Mankekolo Mahlangu-Ncgobo, a South African born activist, public health professional, educator and minister who passed away in December of 2019. She had been a valued member of CHE’s Community Advisory Board. To honor her contributions, CHE Director Dr. Lisa Cooper announced the creation of a Mahlangu-Ncgobo Summer Fellowship in partnership with Morgan State University, where Rev. Mahlangu-Ncgobo had taught health. In introducing the new fellowship, Dr. Cooper asserted “Now more than ever we need social justice heroes like Rev. Dr. Mankekolo Mahlangu-Ncgobo.” Dr. Deidra Crews echoed Dr. Cooper with another encomium, saying “Rev. Dr. Mankekolo cast so much light during her life. Let us allow her memory to inspire us as we carry her legacy forward.” All agree that this leader will be missed and remembered.
“... Rev. Dr. Mankekolo cast so much light during her life. Let us allow her memory to inspire us as we carry her legacy forward.”
Following the tribute, the group heard reports on Center for Health Equity studies and programs, beginning with an update on the January 2020 trip of Dr. Commodore-Mensah and Dr. Lisa Cooper to Kumasi, Ghana, where they visited our partner study team at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).
Dr. Cooper provided an update on the Five Plus Nuts and Beans Study and the recent election of new co-chairs of the Community Advisory Board guiding that study, Mr. Richard Knight and Mr. Ray Harris.
Rev. Debra Hickman, co-chair of the CHE’s Community Advisory Board shared information about Sister’s Together And Reaching (STAR) and their efforts to provide support for the community during the coronavirus pandemic through monthly virtual forums.
The Center for Health Equity’s Community Advisory Board recently formed a Community Engagement Workgroup to help extend the involvement of the Board in Center studies and programs, and two members of that group, Ms. Monique Dawkins and Ms. Michelle Simmons, provided a report on a facilitated brainstorming session held in February. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 crisis interrupted the implementation of some of the recommendations of that workgroup session, but as we adjust to the new realities of socially distanced work, we plan to resume developing strategies to better engage community members.
The meeting finished with updates from each member about their work and the community resources they felt should be shared and distributed.
The next CAB meeting is scheduled for June 24, 2020 to discuss on-going initiatives, grants, and continuing responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. To learn more about the Center’s Community Advisory Board, please view our online Community Corner or send a note to jhchecab@jhmi.edu.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Learn more about the mission and operations of the Community Advisory Board
Our Community Corner page provides downloaded highlights from each of the meetings, along with further information about becoming involved
Keep up with latest community news by signing up for our Quarterly Community Highlights