Public health advocate Meredith Minkler to speak on community-based research in public health

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The University at Buffalo and other medical community sponsors will present a public lecture by pioneering public health advocate Meredith Minkler, DrPH, professor of health and social behavior in the School of Public Health, Division of Community Health and Human Development, at the University of California, Berkeley.

Her talk, “Building Healthy Environments in Diverse Settings: The Value Added by Community-Engaged Research,” will take place on Oct. 2 from 9-11 a.m. at the UB Clinical and Translational Research Center, 875 Ellicott St., fifth floor, Buffalo. 

Registration and coffee service will begin at 8:30 a.m.

The event is free, but an RSVP is requested to Rachel@cacwny.org. Parking will be available on the street or in the ramp adjacent to the building.

Minkler will explore the value and challenges of scientific studies that engage communities in the research process, and the role this work plays in developing healthy environments, particularly for communities that are often overlooked. Among these are communities of disability, non-English speaking communities and environmental justice communities with the greatest need of protection from environmental and health hazards.

Minkler is a noted scholar and public health expert who co-authored the first major U.S. study on community based participatory research in the health field.  She has more than 30 years of experience in developing and implementing community partnerships, community organizing and community-based participatory research that engages with diverse community groups including the low-income elderly, people with disabilities, youth and women of color.

The talk is sponsored by the Peter and Elizabeth Tower Foundation, the UB School of Public Health and Health Professions, UB Civic Engagement and Public Policy Research Initiative (which supports community-engaged research), UB School of Nursing, UB School of Social Work, UB Department of Family Medicine, UB Clinical and Translational Research Center and Roswell Park Cancer Institute’s Office of Cancer Health Disparities Research. Co-sponsors are the Partnership for the Public Good and the UB Food Systems Planning and Healthy Communities Lab.

For more information, contact Laura Mangan at Lmangan@buffalo.edu or call 716-645-5376.