Cornell Center for Social Sciences (CCSS), in partnership with Cornell Center for Health Equity (CCHEq) and The Cornell Population Center (CPC), hosted four, hour-long workshops open to all Cornell faculty, postdocs, graduate students, and researchers oriented toward learning about the NIH grants process and developing strategies for crafting a competitive proposal. We are delighted to communicate that the Center has received a record number of submissions to the pilot grant program this year. We would highlight Center members that are participating in the Social Science and NIH Grant Development Program.

CancerCare, the leading national nonprofit organization providing free, professional support services to anyone affected by cancer, is excited to announce the launch of a new pilot program called CONNECTING for Lung Health (Community Navigation in Neighborhoods for LDCT Screening for LUNG HEALTH) to encourage the use of low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) screenings among people at high risk of lung cancer. CancerCare’s advocacy partner in this initiative is the LUNGevity Foundation, the nation’s leading lung cancer-focused nonprofit organization. The clinical partners are the Office of Community Engagement and Health Equity (CEHE) for UI Cancer Center; University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System, and the Office of Community Outreach and Engagement (COE) for Weill Cornell Medicine’s Sandra and Edward Meyer Cancer Center. The program will combine community outreach, lay navigation, education and CancerCare case management, and will launch in June of this year. Read more ...

Congratulations to Dr. Erica Phillips, Co-Associate Director, Cornell Center for Health Equity, on being awarded the Inaugural Marie Metoyer Award for Excellence in Community Service at the Annual WCM Diversity Week Celebration. The Marie Metoyer, M.D. Award is presented to faculty member or alumnus of the Medical College who exemplifies Dr. Metoyer’s highest values of healing and community engagement, and has gone above and beyond to serve underprivileged communities in an unorthodox manner.

Our six New York City medical school collaborative has recruited 775 diverse students from 28 states, DC, PR, and 3 int’l schools to our new Covid-19 STEM Community Education and Empowerment Internship. The students will be divided into two cohorts, each 4 weeks in length and the program will take place over 4 Saturdays for each cohort. Speakers will include Dr. Thomas Frieden, former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Torian Easterling, First Deputy Commissioner/ Chief Equity Officer of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Dr. Kristen Marks, Associate Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, and site PI for the Moderna vaccine trial at NYP-Weill Corrnell, and Dr. Oni Blackstock, founder and Executive Director of Health Justice.  

The Weill Cornell Medicine Diversity Center of Excellence is administratively hosting this program due to our history of engaging students and community partners. The Diversity Center of Excellence collaborates with various internal partners at Weill Cornell, NYP, and community partners to work collaboratively toward eliminating health disparities. As part of the HRSA funded Diversity Center of Excellence grant, we launched the Pre-Medical Diversity Initiative which has engaged underrepresented minority, first-generation college student, and immigrant pre-medical students through small group mentoring, an annual conference, and pipeline programs. 

The format of each session will consist of a lecture followed by a discussion on the topic and a supply of relevant information that can be used by the students. An assessment will be conducted after each session. Students will raise awareness of Covid-19 safety measures and vaccines during the final session of the program by presenting their capstone projects, examples of anticipated projects include Tik Tok videos, infographics, powerpoint presentations, etc.  Each student will commit to speaking with at least ten people about Covid-19 vaccination. Upon completion, each student will receive a certificate of acknowledgment for their participation in the Covid-19 STEM Education and Empowerment Program.

For more information on the internship please email Grace Figuereo at grf7002@med.cornell.edu.

Medicine Grand Rounds

Topic

John Vaughn, MD

MS Program

Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research

Passcode: 33820

Christopher Gonzalez, MD

MS Program

Clinical Epidemiology and Health Services Research

Passcode: 33820

Make the Road New York (MRNY) builds the power of immigrant and working class communities to achieve dignity and justice. MRNY's health team provides critical health access services to over 8,000 individuals a year, working with immigrant populations in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, Long Island, and Westchester. We provide one-on-one assistance with health insurance enrollment and food stamp enrollment, hospital bill negotiation, and health system navigation. Through our innovative promotora program, peer advocates conduct health care access and coverage outreach in their communities and create culturally and linguistically competent virtual outreach materials. We also employ Community Health Workers (CHWs) to help hundreds of families improve their health each year through home visits and culturally competent health counseling; and run a CHW training program to bring more members of our community into this work. MRNY's Health Team also leads campaigns to expand access to coverage and care for immigrant communities.

The Cornell Center for Health Equity (CCHEq) hosts a series of Health Equity Seminars on the first Friday of the month. Sessions are broadcasted via webinar for remote attendees. These colloquia are intended for center members to share their work on various equity focused and social justice issues as well as obtain multidisciplinary input on works in progress. Recordings of seminars are now accessible on the Cornell Center for Health Equity website.

CCSS QuIRI Summer Methods Institute

This two and a half day introductory workshop is intended for Cornell PI-eligible faculty and staff in the social sciences, medicine, engineering, and related fields:

The workshop will be held virtually June 14-16, 2021. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:

Priority will be given to PI-eligible faculty, but if there is room in the class, professional research staff and others may be considered. The workshop will be limited to 15 participants.

Applications due May 17, 2021. Apply here.