What We Do
CCHER brings together researchers with diverse disciplinary expertise to investigate health disparities and disseminate findings to promote health equity. CCHER aims to improve the recruitment and retention of students from under-represented groups in health-related professions by building on and supporting existing pipeline initiatives for first-generation and minority students. Our culture-centered research aims to identify and implement novel interventions to improve mental health, manage chronic illness and build community resilience.
CCHER is housed in the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, the only publicly-funded accredited school of public health in New England. Its departments include Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Environmental Health Sciences, Health Promotion and Policy, Kinesiology, Nutrition, and Speech, Language, and Hearing Sciences.
Our Mission
The Center for Community Health Equity Research (CCHER) seeks to promote health equity by diversifying the health care workforce and authentically engaging in community-partnered and multidisciplinary research to investigate the social production of health disparities.
Our Vision
The Center seeks to address the gap between academic research and practice by leveraging rigorous studies to drive public health policies toward health equity. The Center builds collective resilience by forging partnerships both locally and globally through participatory research with clinical and community-based organizations.
Meet the Leadership Team
Susan J. Shaw, PhD, is the Director of the Center for Community Health Equity Research and Professor of Community Health Education at the UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences. She has studied and practiced community-based public health for more than 20 years. She is the author of Governing How We Care: Contesting Community and Defining Difference in U.S. Public Health Programs, published by Temple University Press (2012) and has led two NIH-funded studies on chronic disease and health literacy based at Caring Health Center in Springfield, MA. Her research has been published in Critical Public Health, Health Education and Behavior, Culture, Medicine and Psychiatry, Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, Medical Anthropology Quarterly among others.
Please contact Dr. Shaw at @email.
Brenda Evans, MPH, is Community Liaison for the Center for Community Health Equity Research and the UMass Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences. She has 20 plus years of education and experience in the public health field, which includes training, health care workforce development, and community engagement. She is dedicated to population health and health equity via advocacy and intersectional systematic change to achieve optimal health for all.
Please contact Ms. Evans at @email.