The Center for Community Health Equity Research

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.

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 with departments of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Communication Disorders, Environmental Health Sciences, Health Promotion and Policy, Kinesiology, and Nutrition.