The Curtis Center is one of four organizations (and the only university partner) contracted by the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) and partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to review evidence-based practices to address upstream social and structural determinants of health related to COVID-19. The main deliverable for this project will be a resource database that will be translated and disseminated through various methods (e.g., training, tools, practice briefs and other publications, and a centralized, web-based repository).

Dr. Anao Zhang and Nina Jackson Levin received a discovery grant from the Rogel Cancer Center to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of a speech-based and artificial intelligence-enabled distress screening and monitoring app for adolescents and young adults diagnosed with cancer.

A new paper, co-authored by Nina Jackson Levin, has just been published in Women, titled, Laboring to Conceive: Reducing Barriers to Fertility Care for Same-Sex Mothers Pursuing Parenthood (2022). 

The Curtis Center Signature Program, Young Black Men, Masculinities, and Mental Health (YBMen) project, has received funding from the Michigan Health Endowment Fund, in collaboration with Packard Health, to plan, identify and develop a network of community organizations committed to services and coordinated care models that address the behavioral health needs of young Black men and boys in Washtenaw County. The Network will bolster the efforts of community leaders and organizations to develop forward-thinking strategic action plans that will impact their behavioral health education, practice, and policy efforts for young Black men and boys.

Curtis Center Faculty Affiliate, Professor James Smith, began a new role at Flinders University as the Deputy Dean of Rural and Remote Health – Northern Territory; and Professor of Health and Social Equity. We also share his recent editorial, Advancing Health Promotion in Rural and Remote Australia: Strategies for Change (HPJA, 2022).

Drs. Lenette M. Jones, Jamie Mitchell, & Jaclynn Hawkins recently co-authored a publication in Evidence-Based Nursing, titled, Challenges to Dietary Hypertension Self-Management as Described by a Sample of African American Older Adults (2022).

Curtis Center Faculty Affiliate, Dr. Jade C. Burns, received two awards: The University of Michigan School of Nursing Early Career Investigator Award and the Institute for Healthcare Policy & Innovation Elizabeth Caroline Crosby Research Award. Drs. Burns and Watkins also recently co-authored, Engaging Young Black Males in Sexual and Reproductive Health Care: A Review of the Literature (AJMH, 2021), and Dr. Burns co-authored Black Nurse Scholars' Experiences in an Interdisciplinary Postdoctoral Fellowship (OJIN, 2022).

YBMen Research Associate, Dr. Janelle Goodwill, recently published a paper co-authored by Dr. Watkins, titled, “I didn’t know who to talk to”: Black College Men’s Sources and Descriptions of Social Support (PMM, 2022).

Postdoctoral Research Associate, Dr. Ed-Dee Williams, is co-author on a recent publication in Children, The Mental Health of Black Youth Affected by Community Violence: Family and School Context as Pathways to Resilience (2022).