Our mission is to increase collaboration among community organizations, academic institutions, and state/municipal elected officials to eliminate health and education disparities affecting Latino/Hispanic communities in Colorado and the nation.
November 2023 Newsletter
November 2023 Newsletter
December 2023 Newsletter
November 2023 Newsletter
Community mHealth Community and Practice Equity Diversity and Inclusion Artificial Intelligence (AI) AI/AN health Community Health Latino Health
The Executive Order on the development and use of artificial intelligence (AI) issued by President Biden on October 30 is a directive that contains no fewer than 13 sections. But two words in the opening line strike at the challenge presented by AI: “promise” and “peril.”
As the document’s statement of purpose puts it, AI can help to make the world “more prosperous, productive, innovative, and secure” at the same that it increases the risk of “fraud, discrimination, bias, and disinformation,” and other threats.
In this newsletter: vaccination centers and COVID-19; community events and opportunities; professional development and training; employment opportunities; grants and funding; and additional resources.
Register Here https://ucdenver.zoom.us/meeting/register/t JAqfuqsrjgiH9fR3yMVHS5rXok5vopr2bg9
Community Community and Practice ColoradoSPH at CU Anschutz Workforce Development Community Health Latino Health
A well-established pillar of Colorado’s healthcare system received powerful additional support in late April with bipartisan passage of Colorado SB23-002. The bill will allow Medicaid reimbursement for some services provided by community health workers (CHWs), who help to connect patients to vital healthcare and community services, provide education, and decrease barriers to care, among other tasks. CHWs often go by a variety titles, including health navigators and lay health workers.
COVID-19 Mental Health Epidemiology Infectious disease ColoradoSPH at CU Anschutz ColoradoSPH at CSU ColoradoSPH at UNC Data and Health AI/AN health Biostatistics Health Advocacy Maternal & Child Health Latino Health
Wearing a mask or face covering in the US has become about more than just slowing the spread of COVID-19 — some experts say it's a political statement, signalling another layer in the deep divisions within America.
Community COVID-19 Infectious disease Community and Practice ColoradoSPH at CU Anschutz Latino Health
Latino residents, who make up about 20% of Colorado’s population, are becoming sick with the coronavirus at a disproportionately high rate, accounting for almost one-third of the state’s cases. And at least in Denver, they are hospitalized more than any other racial or ethnic group, according to data from the state and city public health departments. The numbers point to a pattern that people of color — including black Coloradans who are dying at a higher rate than their share of the population — are seeing elevated infection rates.
Advocates worry about increased risks to people of color, but it’s difficult to analyze all contributing factors without widespread testing, tracing and more data on individual cases, said Dr. Lisa DeCamp of the Latino Research and Policy Center at the Colorado School of Public Health.
“We are concerned about the number of people infected in Colorado and across the country,” she said. “We don’t have much information on the baseline.”
Read the full article at The Denver Post.
The work of the Latino Research and Policy Center on Colfax Avenue was recently featured in the CU Foundation's Annual Impact Report. Their multi-media story highlights the efforts of LRPC Director Fernando Holguin and Assistant Professor Ellison Carter (Environmental and Occupational Health @ CSU).
On a recent bright day in Colorado, minglers came together to feast on empanadas, along with news and information about an institution with an impressive pedigree and plenty of plans for the future. The occasion: an open house hosted by the Colorado School of Public Health’s Latino Research and Policy Center.
But why a get-to-know-you event? After all, the Center was founded more than 20 years ago and has been part of the school’s Department of Community and Behavioral Health for just shy of a decade.
There was plenty of news to spread. For starters, ColoradoSPH is the only public health school in the country to offer a certificate program in Latino Health.
“This open house is a chance to share with others what we are doing and also attract new students to the certificate program,” said Kisori Thomas, projects management coordinator for the Center.
Thomas is also helping to get the word out about a new study the Center is leading around health disparities and exposure to indoor allergens for people living along East Colfax Avenue and in surrounding neighborhoods of the CU Anschutz Medical Campus in Aurora, Colorado, where ColoradoSPH is primarily located.
The study idea sprang primarily from two sources: frequent emergency department visits and hospitalizations of youngsters on the medical campus at Children’s Hospital Colorado for respiratory problems, and concerns expressed by local residents about the condition of living spaces near the campus.
“People from community organizations contacted us with pictures that depicted some of the potentially unhealthy conditions,” Thomas said.
Children’s Colorado is a partner with the Center and is funding the pilot, which is just underway. The plan is to collect dust from homes; analyze it for allergens like mold, bed bugs, and pet dander; and assess the incidence of respiratory diseases like asthma and skin conditions such as eczema in residents.
The research team will go to the field for study recruits. Those recruited will complete a questionnaire at the nearby office of Aurora Warms the Night, a provider of shelter and services to the homeless. They will get a spirometry test and a vacuum cleaner—which they can keep if they choose—fitted with a special filter to collect dust samples.
The Colfax study and other initiatives from the Latino Research and Policy Center could ultimately lead to policy changes that address the social inequities that often drive health problems, said Fernando Holguin, MD, a practicing pulmonologist who leads the Colfax study and directs the Center.
“The true challenge is to understand why these disparities still exist and to define the problems and move forward,” he said. “We are trying to create an environment in which we gather the evidence that moves to action.”
Holguin said the Colfax study illustrates the importance of research finding inspiration from those in the community.
“They were concerned about the health of children in the neighborhood,” he said. “Kids are sick. We said, ‘Let’s do an assessment and evaluate and strategize.’” Asked if the study could help to strengthen relationships between the campus and the community, he said, “Let’s hope trust is the fall-out.”
Meanwhile, the Center will expand a program launched in 2015 to increase the number of young Latina women who complete the three-shot vaccination regimen to prevent human papillomavirus (HPV or VPH in Spanish). HPV is “at the root” of cervical cancer and affects Latinas disproportionately, said the Center’s Associate Director for Research, Evelinn Borrayo, PhD.
The 2015 grant from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) provided $750,000 to identify Latina women ages 19 to 26 who either had never started or never completed their HPV vaccinations (ideally, girls and boys should receive the vaccinations between the ages of 11 and 12). The pilot targeted women in this group who received care at Denver Health and included a “patient navigator” who helped make appointments for the women at risk, Borrayo said.
The funds also paid for an eight-minute YouTube video texted to targeted women’s phones that dramatized the experience of a woman whose sister died of cervical cancer.
At the conclusion of the video, women were asked to answer questions about what they had learned. More than 90 percent who responded identified HPV as the root of cervical cancer. Most encouraging were the results of the pilot. Baseline data showed that 43 percent of Latinas in the targeted age group at Denver Health completed their three-dose HPV vaccinations. The pilot set 58 percent as the compliance rate goal; the final tally was 66 percent, Borrayo noted.
That success helped to win a new three year CDPHE grant that will target underserved women of all ethnicities in the vulnerable age group. Borrayo said the Latino Research and Policy Center, in collaboration with the Colorado Community Health Network, will expand the program to about 20 clinics in Colorado associated with three Community Health Centers: Denver Health, Metro Community Provider Network, and the Lamar-based High Plains Community Health Center, which serves women in rural southeastern Colorado communities.
Community engagement is the common denominator for all of the work carried out by the Latino Research and Policy Center, said Kisori Thomas. “We want to be consistent in our relationships with people,” she said. “We want to show we are there not just to collect data, but to make an impact on their lives.”
Students Student and Alumni Latino Health
The Latino Research Policy Center celebrated the completion of the first cohort of Latino Health Certificate and Latino Health Course students. The students presented their work from a year-long mentored project. The projects ranged from protocol development of a home-based blood pressure monitoring intervention to analysis of qualitative research on immigrant young women and their reproductive health practices.
The mentored projects offered a year-long opportunity for students to work with a faculty member and/or community agency to hone their public health skills and explore areas of Latino health. The students also participated in a colloquium that brought experts in Latino health from the Anschutz Medical Campus and across Colorado. Speakers also came from the Nurse Family Partnership, Denver Health, CCLARO, SALUD Clinic, COLOR and other local agencies. Mentors, guest speakers and faculty joined the celebration. Students can choose CBHS 6645 for the mentored project and colloquium or CBHS 6670 for only the colloquium without the mentored project.
Contact us at lrpc@ucdenver.edu.
Community Epidemiology Community and Practice Latino Health
Associate Professor of Epidemiology and Director of the Latino Research & Policy Center at the Colorado School of Public Health Fernando Holguin, MD, MPH, is also a top international asthma expert at the University of Colorado Hospital’s Center for Lungs and Breathing.
According to a recent analysis, graduate-level enrollment has been on a decline nationwide since 2011 resulting from changes in the economy, generational shifts and more, however, the need for well-educated professionals remains. To meet this new demand, the Colorado School of Public Health recently added four new certificate programs that address emerging public health issues nationally and provide ongoing training and education to the public health workforce.
Cancer Mental Health Latino Health
The Colorado School of Public Health has been named a recipient of a $1.9 million grant to address mental health disparities in low-income, uninsured and under-insured Coloradans who are suffering from lung, head and neck cancers. The grant is part of $152.8 million in grants that were recently allocated by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) Board of Governors to support studies covering a range of conditions and problems that impose high burdens on patients, caregivers, and the healthcare system.
Community Community and Practice ColoradoSPH at CSU Community Health Latino Health
Evelinn Borrayo, PhD, professor of Community and Behavioral Health at the Colorado School of Public Health at CSU, has been appointed to the State Board of Health by Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper.
Borrayo will represent District 2 for a three-year term. Of the state board's nine voting members, she is the only academic.
The State Board of Health performs such duties as promulgating public health rulings, approving grant funding, appointing members to department committees, and advising the executive director.
Of the appointment, Borrayo calls it "the most meaningful public service" she could perform. It will allow her a wide-reaching consideration of health issues facing Coloradans, as well as the ability to exercise a vote in improving citizen health.
In addition to her appointments within ColoradoSPH, Borrayo is also a professor of counseling psychology and director of counseling training in CSU's College of Natural Sciences and its department of Psychology, and up until recently was the director of the Colorado School of Public Health's Latino Research & Policy Center.
Borrayo's voice will help represent three unique perspectives: that of a higher education academic; a mental health trained professional; and an ethnic minority woman of Latino descent.
"I believe that through my professional training, I can provide knowledge, skills, and experience related to the mental health needs of the people of Colorado. Moreover, through my affiliation with the Colorado School of Public Health, I am in the position to contribute added knowledge and skills related to public health matters that affect all citizens of Colorado."
"As part of my commitment to improve health inequities, I have developed expertise in best practices related to improving the pipeline of underrepresented providers in the healthcare professions, including mental health providers."
Read the full story in CSU Source.
Mirage News
April 17, 2024
The Colorado School of Public Health (ColoradoSPH) has been ranked #16 by U.S. News & World Report for graduate programs in public health. The rankings were announced publicly on April 9. Previously, ColoradoSPH had been ranked #17. As a newer school of public health, founded in 2008, ColoradoSPH, has risen steadily through the ranks from #35 to #16 in just 15 short years. The rankings of more than 200 schools and programs of public health are based on expert opinions about program excellence and other statistical indicators that measure the quality of a school's faculty, research, and students.
9 News
April 12, 2024
“People need to be aware that their risk associated with drinking PFAs in drinking water is still likely quite low, given we don’t have those high, high levels of contamination. The EPA standard is designed to really take that down to be most protective of public health,” said Ned Calonge, associate dean for public health practice, and a professor of epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health.
5280
April 02, 2024
Kristine Burrows has dedicated a big chunk of her young life to old age. She earned a master’s degree with a focus on leadership and healthy aging from the Colorado School of Public Health in 2018, launched a statewide day program for older adults with disabilities through the Lakewood chapter of national nonprofit Easterseals, and eventually worked as director of aging, care, and connections for the Jewish Family Service of Colorado.
Ark Valley Voice
March 28, 2024
U.S. Representatives Brittany Pettersen and Jason Crow are leading a group of Colorado Representatives urging the Center for Disease Control and Prevention to continue funding the Rocky Mountain Prevention Research Center (RMPRC), which resides within the Colorado School of Public Health. It has conducted instrumental public health research in the region for nearly 20 years, but the CDC recently decided not to fund the RMPRC for the next five-year funding cycle.
Colorado School of Public Health
