In this interview, we discussed Dr. Schenita Randolph’s research with, not in, the Black community. Dr. Randolph co-leads the Community Engagement and Dissemination Core at the Duke REACH Equity Center. In this interview, she stresses the importance of the role of nurse leaders and the critical need to better understand racial inequities in health. She notes a major gap in the current science behind HIV prevention in women of color. The CDC provides evidence-based PrEP Best Practices but as Dr. Randolph points out, none exist for women or women of color. She is working to change that and currently leads a study entitled, A Salon-Based, Multi-level Intervention to Improve PrEP Uptake among Black Women living in the United States South, funded by Gilead Sciences, Inc. The CDC has called out racism as a public health emergency and priority but Dr. Randolph says more training on racial equity and lived experiences of scientists of color is needed among decision makers at funding agencies. She also reflects on Academia and the need to reexamine how scientists are evaluated. In conclusion, Dr. Randolph wants listeners to remember that diversity, equity, and inclusion are linked to real people.

For a transcription of today's podcast episode, visit here.

To read more about Dr. Schenita Randolph (as well as future guests), please visit our website here.

For more information about Breaking Research Barriers, see our website.

In this interview, we sat down with Dr. Viviana Martinez-Bianchi, MD, FAAFP, a Family Medicine and Primary Care Physician at Duke Family Medicine Center and an associate professor in Family Medicine and Community Health at Duke University. She is also a co-founder of the LatinX Advocacy Team & Interdisciplinary Network for COVID-19 (LATIN-19), a group founded to advance health equity for the LatinX community. At the beginning of the interview, Dr. Martinez-Bianchi describes how this group was created and how the aims of the group are rooted in health promotion, reduction in health disparities, and social justice. Dr. Martinez-Bianchi describes the use of a health equity lens to consider the ways policy, systems, interventions, etc. affect certain groups of people. Dr. Martinez-Bianchi also discusses the importance of medical education rooted in health equity, activating communities to be involved in transforming healthcare and health systems, and the development of multilevel relationships to address health inequity.

For a transcription of today's podcast episode, visit here.

To read more about Dr. Viviana Martinez-Bianchi (as well as future guests), please visit our website here.

For more information about Breaking Research Barriers, see our website.

In this interview, we sit down with Dr. Bei Wu, an inaugural co-director of the Aging Incubator at New York University (NYU). She holds the position of Vice Dean for Research, dean’s professor in global health and director of global health and aging research at NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing. In this episode, Dr. Wu describes how she applies the principles of the Social Determinants of Health and the Life Course Perspective in studies on health disparities among rural populations in West Virginia, older adults, and Asian immigrants in the U.S.  She discusses the bias researchers should be mindful of when using existing data sources.  Dr. Wu also outlines how a newly funded research center at Rutgers and NYU for Asian health promotion and equity can advance research on cardiometabolic disease and mental health of Asian adults and foster the next generation of health disparities scholars.

For a transcription of today's podcast episode, visit here.

To read more about Dr. Bei Wu (as well as future guests), please visit our website here.

For more information about Breaking Research Barriers, see our website.

In this interview, we sit down with Dr. Janet Bettger, the new Chair of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences at Temple University, where she described leadership and involvement in the Duke University Roybal Center, Bass Connections, Margolis Center for Health Policy, and Clinical and Translational Science Institute at Duke University. We discussed the importance of integrated care, implementation science, and specific implementation strategies. Dr. Bettger discussed projects that use North Carolina 360, claims data, and telehealth. She mentioned gaining insight from the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute and the National Academy of Medicine Catalyst Award Competition. Dr. Better mentioned the John’s Hopkins University Diversity Wheel and the concept of community-engaged research.

For a transcription of today's podcast episode, visit here.

To read more about Dr. Janet Bettger (as well as future guests), please visit our website here.

For more information about Breaking Research Barriers, see our website.

In celebration of PRIDE month, for this interview, we sat down with Dr. Dennis Flores, an Assistant Professor of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, to discuss improving health in the LGBTQIA+ community. Dr. Flores does work with the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS at Yale University, Asian Pacific American Nursing Student Association, and the Program on Sexuality, Technology, and Action Research. Much of his research, teaching, and clinical focus addresses the Social Determinants of Health in Sexual and Gender Minority Youth. We discussed our time as predoctoral colleagues at the Duke University School of Nursing, thinking of oneself as a nurse scientist, nurse researcher, and funding for nurse scientists. Dr. Flores lastly describes participating in Philadelphia PRIDE as a member of the local community.

For a transcription of today's podcast episode, visit here.

To read more about Dr. Dennis Flores (as well as future guests), please visit our website here.

For more information about Breaking Research Barriers, see our website.

In this interview, we sit down with Dr. Adrian Hernandez, the Vice Dean at Duke University School of Medicine and Executive Director at the Duke Clinical Research Institute. Dr. Hernandez has conducted large clinical trials and mentioned the ADAPTABLE study. We discussed the importance of implementation science, patient and community engagement, open science, and data repositories in research. The Chronic Care Model is mentioned in one interlude. At the end of the interview, Dr. Hernandez discusses implicit bias and clinical care checklists; take an implicit bias test yourself!

For a transcription of today's episode, visit here.

To read more about Dr. Adrian Hernandez (as well as future guests), see here.

For more information about Breaking Research Barriers, visit our website.

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Rosa González-Guarda, an Associate Professor at Duke School of Nursing and the Co-Director of the Community Engaged Research Initiative at the Duke Clinical Translational Science Institute. Dr. González-Guarda explains how researchers can work in partnership with community members based in community-engaged approaches. Dr. González-Guarda defines how researchers can apply a syndemic orientation and framework to the description of health disparities and the development of interventions. Dr. González-Guarda discusses her research progression from addressing the individual to the study of systems-level drivers of inequity in pursuit of using an antiracist frame in research.

For a transcription of today's podcast episode, visit here.

To read more about Dr. Rosa González-Guarda (as well as future guests), please visit our website here.

For more information about Breaking Research Barriers, see our website.

In this episode, we sit down with Heather Krause, the founder of the We All Count project aimed to increase data equity in research; as well as DataAssist which aims to help non-profits, communities, and governments tell better stories through data. She discusses how we, as clinical researchers, can use advanced statistical techniques to advance the social world not only in shiny boardrooms but primarily on the ground involving the participants we hope to serve. Krause calls us to action to harness data, as a privilege, to make meaningful changes in the world. She discusses her theory of Onus of Change, which involves moving the onus from individuals to systems, by leveraging disaggregated data, thus allowing us to translate words into actions. Ultimately, she reiterates that we are storytellers and must include the human side of statistics. To accomplish this goal, she provides listeners with concrete tools to tell better stories using statistics. She also references Nigerian-American artist and researcher, Mimi Ọnụọha’s groundbreaking art/research work, The Library of Missing Data Sets, as a poignant piece that illustrates the host of data sets yet unresearched.

For a transcription of today's podcast episode, visit here.

To read more about Heather Krause (as well as future guests), please visit our website here.

For more information about Breaking Research Barriers, see our website.