Program in Health Disparities Research 20th Anniversary
March 2026 marks the 20th anniversary of the Program in Health Disparities Research (PHDR)! Since 2006, PHDR has led community-engaged health equity research, education, and capacity building within the University of Minnesota Medical School, across the University, and beyond. Our mission since our inception has been to conduct innovative and impactful community engaged research addressing health disparities, and to train and mentor the next generation of health equity-focused researchers and leaders.
In March 2006, PHDR was made up of our founding program director and a staff with a vision to build a unit that addressed the most pressing health disparities impacting local, national, and international communities. 20 years later, we have grown to include 11 core faculty and 15 staff who have generated millions of grant dollars and topped the Blue Ridge Rankings of NIH funding. More importantly, we have built numerous lasting community research partnerships spanning the history of PHDR and generated innovation in bringing research to action. Over the course of this year, our newsletter will highlight PHDR’s history, showcase our collective impact, and lay out our vision for the next 20 years. We look forward to you joining us in this celebration!
PHDR Through the Years: 20 Years of Innovation and Impact
A Legacy of Collaboration and Trusted Partnerships
For twenty years, the Program in Health Disparities Research (PHDR) has served as a trailblazer in authentic and impactful community engagement. The journey began with a bold commitment to redefine the relationship between academic research and the community. PHDR moved beyond traditional outreach to communities, establishing community-engaged research not as studies performed on communities, but with communities through collaborative partnerships rooted in power-sharing and dedicated to creating sustainable community-led change. This approach has established PHDR as a key resource for community engaged research, demonstrating how academics and community partners can thoughtfully co-create solutions that advance health equity.
Co-Leadership through the Community-Academic Board (CAB)
The cornerstone of PHDR's success is the Community-Academic Board (CAB). Originally established in 2007 to provide strategic and fiscal oversight, the board’s role has evolved into a shared governance model. The CAB transitioned from an advisory body to an active partner that co-leads strategic planning, ensures research is culturally and linguistically grounded, and acts as a vital bridge for translating scientific findings into community-led action. Composed of community and academic members, the board ensures community remains at the forefront of PHDR’s work as a community-driven reality and not just a passing trend. Today, the CAB is an example of effective community-academic co-leadership, ensuring academic excellence is balanced with community wisdom.
A Legacy of Empowerment and Training
PHDR’s commitment to community-led excellence was exemplified through programs like the Community Research Institute (CRI) and the Pilot Grant Program. These initiatives empowered community partners by building research capacity and providing opportunities to co-lead research on priorities identified by the community itself. Sharing findings at PHDR’s Annual Power of Partnerships event fostered a vibrant space for connection and shared learning between academics and community members engaged in community-engaged research. Today, PHDR continues to see the long-term impacts of the partnerships built through these programs.
Innovation in Action: The CCD Toolkit and Beyond
A significant outcome of PHDR’s community engagement work is the Community-Centered Dissemination (CCD) Toolkit. Collaboratively co-designed by community members, UMN faculty, staff, students, and the CTSI-CEARCH office, this toolkit helps research teams incorporate community-engagement dissemination principles into their work. It seeks to help in making research findings accessible, culturally relevant, and actionable for the communities most impacted. This resource is a prime example of how equitable partnerships can co-create solutions and create lasting impact.
A Shared Legacy of Community-Engaged Research
As PHDR celebrates its 20th anniversary, the CAB’s leadership and its programs have cultivated a thriving environment for community-engaged research. With community engagement as the bedrock of PHDR’s mission, vision, and programming, PHDR has created a pathway for how academia can move beyond outreach toward authentic and impactful engagement. PHDR, along with its collaborators, will continue to build a future where health equity is not just a goal, but a reality achieved through the power of partnership.
Celebrating 20 Years of Impact. Support PHDR’s programs today!
Guiding the Future of Health Equity: Inside the HELM Program
The Health Equity Leadership and Mentoring (HELM) program, initiated in Fall 2014 by Drs. Kola Okuyemi and Sue Everson-Rose, has grown into one of PHDR’s signature educational programs. Dr. Antonia Apolinário-Wilcoxon, a longtime PHDR Community-Academic Board (CAB) member and past CAB Chair, has been an important advisor to HELM since it began. HELM received initial support from a Career Mentoring Pilot Grant from the Medical School’s Office of Faculty Affairs (OFA) and PHDR, and has flourished with continued support from PHDR, the Department of Medicine, and the Office for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ODEI). Of note, PHDR staff provide essential programmatic support each year.
The mission of HELM–currently led by Dr. Everson-Rose together with two past HELM Fellows, Dr. Elizabeth Rogers and Dr. Ebiere Okah–is to enhance the academic excellence, leadership capacity, and career success of early-career scholars whose work focuses on health disparities and related research or clinical care. Since its inception nearly 12 years ago, HELM has supported over 140 early career scholars at the University of Minnesota. HELM uses a culturally-responsive model of mentoring and career development to offer resources, mentorship, and opportunities for HELM Fellows. Each year, we select between 10 and 15 early career scholars to join HELM as a cohort, with programming commencing in the fall and continuing to early summer. Fellows are matched with senior faculty for career mentoring and participate in monthly seminars with local and national leaders in health equity and workforce diversity. Seminars address a range of professional and leadership development topics. A core feature of the HELM program is the foundational culture of modeling and supporting psychosocial safety and cultivating a sense of belonging among fellows. We prioritize this approach to create a safe space for open dialogue and opportunities to discuss and grapple with some of the unique challenges of HELM Fellows who are navigating health equity-focused academic, research and clinical careers. Importantly, this approach fosters faculty retention and builds diverse leadership capacity from within the institution.
A celebration of HELM honoring the program and the 11th cohort of Fellows will be held Friday, June 12th, at the Campus Club, with a featured keynote by Dr. Roland Thorpe, Jr., Associate Vice Provost for Faculty Diversity at Johns Hopkins University, addressing “Best Practices in Equity Leadership.” For more information about HELM see our website or email [email protected].