Reasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke – Myocardial Infarction (REGARDS-MI)

On August 15-16, the Reasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke – Myocardial Infarction (REGARDS-MI) study group met at Weill Cornell in its first REGARDS-MI Summer Institute. The REGARDS-MI study is an NHLBI-funded ancillary study to the parent REGARDS study that is funded by NIA and NINDS. The REGARDS-MI-4 renewal brings together investigators from WCM, Duke, and the University of Alabama at Birmingham to study the role of structural racism in coronary heart disease and heart failure outcomes, as well as its impact on reserve and resilience. The REGARDS study is following over 30,000 Black and White participants who were age 45 and older at baseline and who have had 2 rounds of in depth data collection at baseline and again 10 years later. The data set has been linked to Medicare claims data and offers researchers interested in studying racial disparities unparalleled opportunities to answer study questions related to social determinants, policy-relevant questions, health services access, and more on a national scale. The team has funding to support studies initiated by investigators outside the funded study group, and we welcome the opportunity to orient you to the data set. Interested Center members may contact Monika Safford, MD at mms9024@med.cornell.edu.

We welcome Charley E. Willison, PhD, MPH, MA, as a new academic collaborator and CCHEq member! Dr. Willison is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public & Ecosystem Health, Cornell Master of Public Health Program in Ithaca, NY. 

Dr. Willison is a political scientist studying the relationships between local politics and public health political decision-making. Her research seeks to explain public health policy outcomes for the most disadvantaged Americans, where public programs to address complex health needs are often inadequate or nonexistent. She focuses on health policies designed and/or delivered at the local level regarding homelessness, substance use disorders, and disaster response.

Dr. Willison’s book, Ungoverned and Out of Sight: Public Health and the Political Crisis of Homelessness in the United States recently won the 2022 Dennis Judd Best Book Award, which recognizes the best book on urban politics (domestic or international) published in the previous year. The book investigates the relationship between local governance, chronic homelessness and public health, provides new insight into effective supportive housing policies, and offers practical context for practitioners, policy makers, and students. She examines the need for improved coordination and oversight on issues of authority and fragmentation across competing or misaligned policy spaces for local and national policies intended to reduce homelessness to succeed.

CCHEq Co-Director Jamila Michener states, “This book is a must read for political scientists, public health scholars, policy makers, and everyone who is part of the decentralized complex of actors who play a role in the systems that structure homelessness.”

Dr. Willison also will be a panelist at the 2022 CCHEq Symposium on October 21, 2022. For more information about her work experience and other publications, please visit her Cornell or CCHEq profiles.

This year’s “Cornell on the Vineyard 2022,” August 8-11, included a policy discussion, “Strengthening Democracy: How Communities Build Resilience.” Colleen Barry, Inaugural Dean, Cornell Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy, facilitated a conversation with CCHEq Co-Director Jamila Michener about her research on the erosion of democracy and how communities are leveraging economic and political resources to build democratic institutions and drive policy.

Friday, September 2, 2022 | 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM

REGISTER HERE

TALK TITLE:

"What is Community Neuroscience? Research and Outreach."

TALK ABSTRACT:

Context matters. Our physical and social affordances shape our brains and behaviors to produce neuro endophenotypes which may also lead to risk and resilience for health issues. Dr. Marlen Gonzalez will present studies grounded in evolutionary developmental theory and human ecology looking at the way neighborhoods, social context, and the oxytocinergic system impact motivational and regulatory systems.Dr. Gonzalez will also introduce the Community Neuroscience Initiative, a new project from the Bronfenbrenner Center for Translational Research, which aims to democratize neuroscience, make these types of findings useful and accessible, and ultimately empower communities in their own efforts.

Community Neuroscience Initiative

Twitter: @marlenzgonzalez

SPEAKER:

Dr. Marlen Gonzalez, is an Assistant Professor of Psychology in the College of Human Ecology at Cornell University and the director of the Community Neuroscience Initiative (CNI). She holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Virginia where she studied clinical psychology and affective neuroscience. She completed her clinical internship in the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center at the Medical University of South Carolina. Her research looks at how physical and social affordances in development calibrates neural systems important to mental health from an ecological perspective. As director of the CNI, she hopes to serve the Syracuse community in upstate New York. Since 2021, CNI has engaged with the school district, key non-profits, the SUNY system, and local chapters of national networks to conduct three activities: neuroeducation, neuroconsulting, and neuro community building. Through these activities they hope to collaborate with community members to solve pressing problems and enhance pre-existing strengths.