UC Merced Magazine | Volume XVIII, Issue IV

UC Merced Project Scientist Rosa Manzo, Ph.D. (center) with Camarena Health’s Claudia Fabian Chavez (left) and Maria Meraz (right)

Genentech Grant Supports New UC Merced Center for Health Equity By Francesca Dinglasan UC Merced was recently awarded a signi cant grant from Genentech, a member of the Roche group, to create the UC Merced Center for Health Equity. e initiative will focus on eliminating health disparities and advancing health equity throughout the San Joaquin Valley, particularly among the region’s Hispanic, Latinx, immigrant and rural communities. Led by Principal Investigator and Project Scientist Rosa Manzo, Ph.D., the Center will implement a community-engaged collaboration model that aims to facilitate and improve communication and engagement among health professionals and the communities they serve. rough the support of the $1 million grant, the Center will invest in training and promoting community health workers – or promotoras – who will not only assist in addressing cultural gaps and understanding between patients and health care providers but will also participate as co-researchers and policy advocates for issues related to local health disparities.

Manzo and her team are launching the promotora- and community-based education model in Merced, Tulare and Madera counties in conjunction with agency partners Kaweah Health, Golden Valley Health Centers and Camarena Health. Together, the partners are preparing volunteers and agency sta members to ll the roles of community health workers by training them in such core competencies as service coordination and navigation, outreach, public health principles and social determinants of health. Manzo said the uniqueness of this model is that promotoras will have the opportunity to directly assist with research e orts on projects of interest to them. rough their status as UC Merced a liates, they will have access to training and resources that enable them to participate in various research activities, including data collection and analysis, survey administration, and Spanish-language feedback and input. “ ere are a handful of these models, which are mostly centered around outreach and engagement e orts,” said Manzo. “Our promotoras will be involved in data dissemination, research design and research materials. ey are participating as researchers and contributing to every aspect of the research process.”

(Continued on page 14)

13

UC MERCED MAGAZINE // UCMerced.edu