Community Partnered Research Award
This unique award is intended to nurture an existing community-engaged research partnership, and/or facilitate the establishment of a new partnership through trust building, skills development, partnership, and co-learning. The community research partner may learn about research design, proposal development, and/or skills that might enhance operations and build organizational capacity (e.g., program development and evaluation) to engage in action-oriented, community-engaged research. The academic faculty researcher partner may learn more about community health-related needs and priorities and the lived experiences of community members; how community organizations prioritize, function, and/or overcome obstacles; and how community-engaged research is implemented through partnership and in community settings.
PCER Fellowship Members
The 2018-2019 Fellowship member Kirsten Mary O'Hearn, PhD (Assistant Professor in Physiology and Pharmacology) will work with Brittany Felts, (Program Coordinator at iCan House) beginning September 2018 studying how social skills affect the development of individuals within the Autism Spectrum.
Previous members
Elizabeth Jensen, PhD
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology & Prevention in the Division of Public Health Sciences.
Dr. Jensen’s research focuses primarily on early-life environmental exposures that promote development of future diseases, as well as mechanisms of disease among children and adolescents. As an intern with the Program in Community Engagement, Dr. Jensen plans to partner with the Forsyth County Health Department Lead Safety program, the City of Winston-Salem, and various community organizations to gain a better understanding of Forsyth County’s lead testing program, identify opportunities to mitigate exposure to lead in early life (in utero and early childhood), and implement an initiative to characterize lead exposure risk in historically marginalized neighborhoods.
Mark Wolfson, PhD
Wendy Dixon
Wes from Love Out Loud and The Brownsboro Community Partnership. Justin Moore PhD, Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine is mentoring Wendy. ndy
Lynn Rhoades, M.Div.
Co-Founder & Executive Director, Authoring Action.
Lynn is currently an academic intern. Through her internship, she is learning about research and program evaluation. This new understanding of the research process serves as the basis for continuing to improve and promote the work of Authoring Action. It is through such partnerships as this that the Program in Community Engagement can build the capacity of community organizations to collaborate in translational science. Lynn is working with Stephanie Daniel PhD, Professor in the department of Family and Community Medicine.
Julie M. Linton
M.D. Assistant Professor, Pediatrics, Wake Forest School of Medicine.
Dr. Linton is the current community intern. She is working with local community organizations to create an immigrant child health network. The work will bring together existing services and coordinate their approach to apply to the particular needs of immigrant children.
Elizabeth Schiemann ('13-'14)
Director of Operations, El Buen Pastor Latino Community Services.
Elizabeth is currently serving as a community intern. Through her internship, she is learning about the research process and sharing that knowledge with her organization. This new understanding of the research process serves as the foundation for the Family Literacy Initiative at El Buen Pastor. It is through such partnerships as this that the Program in Community Engagement can build the capacity of community organizations to collaborate in translational science.
LaChelle Waller, PhD ('12-'13)
Assistant Professor in the Center for Genomics and Personalized Medicine Research
Dr. Waller will work with several Winston-Salem Forsyth County elementary schools in the implementation of the Science Fair Workshop, a project to assist parents of elementary-aged students to help their children participate in local science fairs. Dr. Waller was instrumental in developing this program last year and will use this externship to refine the program and write about it in a professional journal article.
Denise Houston, PhD ('12-'13)
Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine, Section on Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine in the Sticht Center on Aging
Dr. Houston will work with several community-based organizations for older adults that provide nutrition and health services. This externship will focus on creating relationships with organizations such as these in order to deliver nutritional programs and translate other research that has proven effective in clinical/academic settings.
Christina Hugenschmidt, PhD ('12-'13)
Instructor in the Department of Internal Medicine, Section on Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine
Dr. Hugenschmidt will work with the Alzheimer’s Association of Western North Carolina. Her externship will focus on the dissemination of research findings to this community-based organization and its constituents. Dr. Hugenschmidt hopes to learn how to organize and give informational public outreach lectures that are culturally relevant to groups within a particular community.
Sara Quandt, PhD ('12-'13)
Professor of Epidemiology and Prevention in the Division of Public Health Sciences
Dr. Quandt is working with several community organizations. This externship will focus on understanding the food environment of northwest North Carolina, particularly Forsyth County. The food environment includes the sources of foods and distribution of access to these food sources, as well as the social, cultural, and political forces that underlie these. Understanding the food environment is needed to improve dietary intake for primary and secondary prevention of chronic diseases and their risk factors.