Healthy Churches 2020: A Giant Step for Mayo Clinic HD-CBPR

A number of current and developing Mayo Clinic community-based, participatory health disparities research projects received a big boost in November, when two dozen PI’s, research personnel, and community faith leaders and volunteers from Minnesota, Arizona, and Florida attended Balm in Gilead, Inc.’s Healthy Churches 2020 annual conference. The focal point of Mayo Clinic’s attendance was to share research outcomes from clinic/faith-organization partnerships across all three sites with other nationwide faith-based health partnerships. Mayo Clinic, which also sponsored a Pavilion at the conference, used its platform to distribute educational materials and to give a presentation on childhood obesity (Drs. Christopher Pullins and Kenneth Poole, (AZ)). Additionally, Chara Chamie (AZ) and Monica Albertie (FL), OHDR Program Managers who spearheaded the community partnerships and PI research, also attended, helping health disparities researchers distribute a survey to conference participants. The PI’s plan to present the survey results at next year’s HC2020 conference and as the basis of a manuscript. The Pavilion, the educational materials, and the travel/lodging for all participants were jointly funded by the Office of Health Disparities and the CCaTS’s Office of Community Engaged Research. Participants re-port that the event, a forum for pastors and volunteers involved in health ministry, health fairs, kitchen ministries, and health education in faith setting to network and develop ideas for programs and interventions, was educational and engaging. Information from the event will support existing and planned research projects partnering Mayo Clinic with African American and Hispanic faith communities in Minnesota, Arizona, and Florida.