Equitable Implementation in Action
This event was co-hosted by the Jordan Institute for Families and Collaborative for Implementation Practice at the UNC School of Social Work, and The Annie E. Casey Foundation.
This event shined a light on equitable implementation and engaged more deeply with the authors and articles highlighted in the Stanford Social Innovation Review supplement, Bringing Equity to Implementation, that was released in May 2021.
Agenda
Welcome and Opening Plenary
Implementation science is uniquely positioned to address inequities by reducing the gap between research and practice across diverse community, healthcare and social service settings. Making progress toward achieving health equity, however, requires more explicit reflection about the role of structural racism as a fundamental driver of social and health inequities and how to address it. The opening plenary highlights strategies, frameworks and approaches that can be applied in implementation efforts to more actively address structural racism.
Speakers
Dr. Rachel Shelton, ScD, MPH is a social and behavioral scientist with training in cancer and social epidemiology, and expertise in implementation science, sustainability, health equity, and community-based participatory research. She is Associate Professor of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, where she is Co-Director of the Community Engagement Core Resource at the Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (CTSA), and leads a new university-wide initiative on Implementation Science. Dr. Shelton has taught a course in implementation science for nearly 10 years and has been a mentor in a number of training programs globally, including TIDIRC, TIDIRH, and the Institute for Implementation Science Scholars. Dr. Shelton has 15 years of experience conducting mixed-methods research focused on advancing the implementation and sustainability of evidence-based interventions in community and clinical settings to address health inequities, particularly in the context of cancer prevention/control; her research program is funded by NIA, NCI, NIMHD and American Cancer Society.
Dr. Prajakta Adsul, MBBS, MPH, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of New Mexico and a member in the University of New Mexico’s Comprehensive Cancer Center, within the Cancer Control and Population Sciences Research Program. Dr. Adsul’s research uses implementation science theories, methods and measures, keeping a multilevel perspective. Her research utilizes qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods to incorporate the complexities of real-world practice and produce meaningful and useful products that are relevant to several stakeholders including fellow researchers and clinicians, community members, and most importantly, individuals that are directly affected by improving clinical and community practice.
Dr. April Oh, Ph.D., M.P.H., is a Senior Advisor for Implementation Science and Health Equity in the Implementation Science (IS) Team in the Office of the Director in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI). She leads efforts to advance the intersection of implementation science and health equity research. Dr. Oh provides scientific leadership for NCI’s Implementation Science in Cancer Control (ISC3) Program which supports the rapid development, testing, and refinement of innovative approaches to implement a range of evidence-based cancer control interventions. Dr. Oh’s research interests in multi-level health communication, implementation science, social determinants of health, neighborhood and policy effects on community health, obesity-related behaviors, and digital health technologies to promote behavior change and cancer prevention and control.
Breakout Sessions
Eight breakout sessions featured conversations with authors of articles highlighted in Bringing Equity to Implementation. Links to each of these articles as well as the recorded conversations can be accessed below.
Equity in Implementation Science is Long Overdue
Faith-Based Organizations as Leaders of Implementation
Community-Defined Evidence as a Framework for Equitable Implementation
Community-Driven Solutions to Address Hypertension on Chicago’s South Side
Recommendations and Closing Plenary
The closing plenary explored ten recommendations for advancing equitable implementation and how they can be put into action. Read more about these ten recommendations in Equitable Implementation at Work.
Speaker
Iheoma U. Iruka, PhD, is a Research Professor of Public Policy and Founding Director of the Equity Research Action Coalition at Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Iruka is engaged in projects and initiatives focused on how evidence-informed policies, systems, and practices in early education can support the optimal development and experiences of children from low-income and ethnic minority households, such as through family engagement and support, quality rating and improvement systems, and early care and education systems and programs. She has been engaged in addressing how best to ensure excellence for young diverse learners, especially Black children, such as through development of a classroom observation measure, examination of non-traditional pedagogical approaches, public policies, and publications geared toward early education practitioners and policymakers.
Additional Resources
Video series on health equity/implementation science
