UR Breaking Down Silos: A Joint Symposium

University of Rochester faculty, staff, and doctoral students came together Thursday, April 18 at the Hilton Garden Inn for a joint symposium that served as a bridge between the important work teams are leading, both at the Medical Center and the River Campus. The half-day event was a forum to share updates and identify where our work intersects to promote collaboration and create synergy.

The Center for Community Health & Prevention, the Office of Health Equity Research and the Warner School of Education partnered for the in-person discussion followed by a networking session and poster symposium with prizes.

1st Place: Saabirah K. Campo was awarded up to $2,500 in publication costs or dissemination fees for her poster “Health Equity Through Hair Care.” (She is pictured with Edith Williams, MS, PhD, director of the Center for Community Health & Prevention and founding director of the Office of Health Equity Research, who presented the awards.)

2nd Place: Carol St. George, Jen Piskorowski, Karrie Argiropoulos, Alyse Cunzio, and Chang Liu were awarded up to $1,500 in travel costs for their poster “Reading: Powerful Medicine for Health and Well-Being.”

 3rd Place: April Luehmann and Molly Wilson were awarded up to $500 for conference registration, education or professional development activity for their poster “Justice-Centered Science Learning.”

Our Keynote Speaker: Silvia Sörensen, Ph.D., associate professor in the Department of Ophthalmology, presented "Addressing Health Disparities through Community-Engaged Research and Community Education: Principles and Example Projects."

Dr. Sörensen is the director of the Laboratory for Population Health, Disparities, and Intervention Research, in which new research and community health projects are hatched with the help of a Community Health-project Advisory Board. She has a keen interest in community-partnered research and is a co-founder of the Aging Well Initiative community collaboration with faith-based organizations. She is also a member of several community coalitions focused on the empowerment of underserved groups in order to reduce health disparities. 

Collaborating with colleagues in Ophthalmology, Psychiatry, Primary Care, Immunology, and with community-based health activists, Dr. Sörensen has developed and/or evaluated interventions to (1) promote positive health behaviors, (2) prevent mental and physical health problems, (3) increase access to mental health services for underserved groups, (4) assist older adults with preparation for future care, and (5) support well-being among older adults.

David Linehan, M.D., dean of the University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry and URMC CEO, Sarah Peyre, Ed.D., dean and professor of the Warner School of Education and Human Development, Edith Williams, MS, PhD, and Samantha Daley, EdD, associate professor and associate dean for research at the Warner School, delivered opening remarks.