Jennie Joe PhD, MPH discusses challenges in community-based participatory research, avenues for overcoming barriers, strategies for sustaining community partnerships and capacity building in communities.

Clinical investigation has traditionally focused on conditions that are best studied in controlled environments. Furthermore, women have only been equitably represented among participants enrolled during the last 10-15 years. Thus, many of the findings of such studies have been difficult to translate into less controlled environments such as the community or into underrepresented minority and disadvantaged groups. Strategies to incorporate diverse populations groups into research in the academic health center and the community setting are discussed. One such strategy is the use of community advisory boards that provide community stakeholders a voice in the projects implemented in their communities. Incorporating community advisory boards as well as attending to the principles of community-oriented research facilitate and encourage research that contributes positively to the health of communities and the elimination of health disparities.

Leo Morales, MD, PhD speaks on the topic of health status of Latino populations, and disparities in health and health outcomes in particular. Dr. Morales talks about his experiences as a researcher at UCLA and with the RAND Corporation, and will touch on study findings related to access to medical care and eye care among Latinos.

Hardin Coleman, PhD, a professor of counseling psychology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison speaks on "Using Student Portfolios to Assess Competence in Cultural Diversity" at the Health Sciences Learning Center on April 11, 2007.

In the discipline of bioethics, how bodies and "body boundaries" are culturally constructed is critically important to understand. Determining where one body (person) ends and another begins impacts who has decision-making authority over medical and/or other health related research procedures (abortion, end-of-life care, genetic testing, living and non-living organ donation, sterilization, etc.). Learn how American society tends to draw these body boundaries, and why this is important to practice, research and community-academic partnerships.

Ethnic disparities in stroke incidence and mortality are well established. However, there are relatively few studies of disparities in post-stroke functional status and long-term outcome. Health related quality of life (HRQOL) is particularly understudied in diverse populations, and is emerging as important indicator of stroke recovery. Dr. Dorothy Edwards presents on a study focused on black-white differences in recovery from ischemic stroke and the identification predictors of diminished quality of life.

Presenters from the Wisconsin Division of Public Health and the Department of Health and Family Services speak on Disparities in Birth Outcomes: A Continuing Challenge in Wisconsin.

Maureen Smith, MD, MPH, PhD speaks on, "Integrating Health Care Research & Practice".

Gladis Benavides presented on "Intercultural Communication - Healthcare at Home" on April 20, 2006 at the UW Health Sciences Learning Center.

Dr. Ronald Magness spoke on "How the Maternal Fetal Interface Influences the Development Programming of Adult Onset Disease" on March 15, 2006 at the UW Health Sciences Learning Center. This event was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Cultural Diversity in Healthcare.

The Center for the Study of Cultural Diversity in Healthcare (CDH) at the UW Medical School has launched a brownbag speaker series focused on cultural competence in healthcare and human services, minority health and health disparities.

Tawara Goode presented "Achieving Cultural & Linguistic Competency: Implications for the Health Sciences" on October 7, 2005 at the Health Sciences Learning Center. This event was sponsored by the Center for the Study of Cultural Diversity in Healthcare.