URMC Recognizes 3 for Satcher Community Health Awards
Special Grand Rounds highlights work to reduce racial disparities, prevent violence
Three University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) faculty members were recognized Thursday, May 6 for their contributions to improving health in the Greater Rochester region. The 12th annual Dr. David Satcher Community Health Improvement Awards, presented by the Center for Community Health & Prevention of URMC, featured a timely grand rounds presentation by Eugenia C. South, M.D., M.S.P.H., physician at Penn Medicine and assistant professor of Emergency Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She also serves as the vice chair for Inclusion, Diversity and Equity. She is the Faculty Director of the Urban Health Lab, which focuses on partnering with communities to build healthy neighborhoods.
South presented “Making Black Lives Matter through Investment in Black Neighborhoods,” which addressed the root causes of urban gun violence including structural racism, as well as several place-based interventions from her research that help to prevent gun crime and promote community health.
Community members, URMC faculty and staff, medical students and others came together over Zoom to hear Dr. South’s special grand rounds, as well as learn more about and celebrate the work of this year’s awardees.
Created in 2010, the awards reflect the shared mission of the Center for Community Health & Prevention and URMC to develop and expand University-community partnerships that support participatory research and interventions to reduce health inequalities and improve the community's health.
“Our nation, and the world, have faced tremendous challenges that have highlighted the magnitude of health disparities and the irrefutable need for a strong public health infrastructure,” said Nancy M. Bennett, M.D., M.S., Center director and co-director of the UR Clinical & Translational Science Institute. “We are honored to have hosted Dr. South for her insightful and inspiring presentation - and to continue to honor the important work of our URMC faculty, staff and their community partners.”
Award recipients for 2021 are:
Senior Faculty Awardees (Awarded jointly)
Laura Jean Shipley, M.D., professor of Clinical Pediatrics, vice chair for Population and Behavioral Health in the Department of Pediatrics and associate medical director for Maternal Child Health at Accountable Health Partners. In her role at Accountable Health Partners, she leads and informs population health strategic approaches for children and families.
She practiced medicine as a primary care pediatrician at Panorama Pediatric Group in Rochester prior to joining the department leadership team in January 2019, and has 25 years of experience in overseeing effective primary care approaches, with a particular interest in social-emotional and behavioral health.
Jeffrey Kaczorowski, M.D., professor and vice chair for Community and Government Affairs in the Department of Pediatrics.
He was director of the National American Academy of Pediatrics Community Pediatrics Training Initiative from 2004 to 2019 and is currently its senior advisor. In that role, he has worked with more than 100 departments of pediatrics and children’s hospitals across the U.S. to help them develop their community health approaches. Kaczorowski helped found Rochester’s children’s advocacy organization, The Children’s Agenda, and was its first executive director.
Their work entails close collaboration and partnership with many community organizations, including the Rochester City School District, Pediatric Links with the Community, the Children’s Institute, CFLeads - Economic Mobility Action Network and ROC the Future.
Junior Faculty Awardee
Angela Branche, M.D., is an assistant professor at the University of Rochester, School of Medicine. She currently has an inpatient and outpatient practice caring for patients with general infectious diseases and HIV. She is also the co-director of the NIH-funded UR Vaccine Treatment and Evaluation Unit. Her current research activities explore clinical disease pathogenesis, development of therapeutics for bacterial and viral respiratory infections, and she is actively involved in the NIH and University of Rochester research response to COVID-19.
Branche works closely with multiple community partners, such as Common Ground Healthand Sister Marsha Allen of the Vineyard Farm.