Research
Our research programs are centered on:
Supporting Research:
We study and learn how successfully our educational programs and practitioner trainings engage the concerns and priorities of the public that we hope to serve.
Supporting Researchers:
We support more inclusive, equitable and productive communication between research team members who hold different personal identities and professional backgrounds.
Our Programs
In this study conducted in 2021, we implemented a health equity dialogue program where BIPOC community partners from Dorchester shared what they think and feel about COVID vaccination choices. We learned how to best support participants sharing their hopes and concerns about COVID vaccine without feeling judged. Community-centered dialogues addressed historical inequities by offering conversations where people could humanize one another as they considered the risks and benefits of COVID vaccination.
This dialogue program was conducted in partnership with Tufts CTSI.
African-American Men and Women engaged from Boston’s Dorchester and Roxbury neighborhoods
–
years
of diversity in age represented
community dialogue facilitators trained
Key Outcomes
Served as a model
for building conversational structures that promote open-minded dialogue.
Honored diverse experiences
that deepened understanding of the hopes and concerns people face related to COVID vaccine choices.
Created “safe enough” spaces
for community members to share thoughts and feelings
Participant Testimonials
Exploring Ways to Build Diversity in Research Teams Through Broadly Engaged Team Science (Nov 8, 2023)
Exploring Cultural Humility to Build Inclusive Research Teams (Nov 29, 2023)
Exploring Power Dynamics and Equity in Research Teams (March 12, 2024)
This three-part workshop series included building 1 – Diversity through “Broadly-engaged Team Science,” 2 – Inclusion through “Cultural Humility” and 3 – Equity through “Dynamics of Power and Privilege. Through dialogue, participants in research teams learned how to build trust, share power and help all team members feel acknowledged and valued.
Participants Involved:
staff and research faculty participated in these training workshops
–
years
diverse age range of participants
scientific disciplines engaged
Key Outcomes
Built open-minded and respectful communication
among research team members from different personal and professional backgrounds.
Deepened relationships between collaborators
by clarifying how the values they hold motivate their contributions to their team
Guided research team members
to share and learn the importance of valuing their research contributions
Gained knowledge in cultural humility
to prioritize inclusion in their research teams
Raised awareness about power dynamics
within research teams so that collaborators feel a sense of belonging
Participant Testimonials
This ongoing dialogue series is centering the experiences, hopes and concerns of Long COVID patients and caregivers to help educate primary care providers to better recognize the challenges of living with Long COVID. Our research will measure the impact of these community-centered dialogues and assess how they will foster more culturally-responsive, compassionate and trustworthy care and social support for Long COVID patients.
This dialogue series was planned in partnership with the Boston COVID Recovery Cohort, Long COVID patients, their caregivers, primary care providers and Long COVID patient advocates.
anticipated participants
Boston area hospitals invited to participate: (Boston Medical Center, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Cambridge Health Alliance, Massachusetts General Hospital, Tufts Medical Center, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center)
dialogues with primary care providers and Long COVID patients
Key Outcomes:
Our goal is to build relationships of trust between primary care providers and Long COVID patients to close cultural gaps in primary care providers’ knowledge and skills needed to better treat Long COVID.
This research seeks to:
Test and improve dialogue structures
that support conversations between primary care providers and Long COVID patients
Assess how dialogues can support communication
that builds trust between primary care providers and Long COVID patients
Assess the ability of dialogue to raise awareness
of the experience of Long COVID patients for primary care providers to better care for them
