JustLeadershipUSA Receives Grant to Conduct Community-Based Research Aimed at Reducing Inequities, Improve Health Outcomes

Today, the American Heart Association (AHA) and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) announced they are investing $20 million in “a new innovative initiative to foster collaboration between research scientists and community leaders to develop community-driven projects aimed at improving health and saving lives.” As part of this initiative, JustLeadershipUSA (JLUSA) will be partnering with Yale University SEICHE Center for Health and Justice to lead JUSTResearch, one of three targeted research projects receiving part of this funding from AHA and RWJF.

The JLUSA-Yale team will be led by Emily Wang, M.D., M.A.S., a professor of medicine and public health at Yale University and director of the SEICHE Center for Health and Justice, and DeAnna Hoskins, M.A., an adjunct professor of the SEICHE Center for Health and Justice and president and CEO of JLUSA.

The team will explore risk factors of heart health among individuals who are incarcerated as well as their family members. They will work with individuals who are formerly incarcerated to design research projects to identify health and wellness barriers.

The team will also collect data to determine what health risk factors may be most prevalent among people in prison and their family members and what types of interventions might be most successful in improving their health. The team plans to develop protocols and practices for a toolkit that can be used by community-academic partnerships to engage people impacted by mass incarceration in future research.

JLUSA is honored to be partnering with the team at Yale on this exciting new project and deeply grateful for the funding from AHA and RWJF to do this work, because we believe empowering the people most impacted in developing solutions to reduce health disparities is one of the most effective ways to improve their overall health and well-being.