Welcome to the UMass Center for Health Equity Intervention Research (CHEIR)!

CHEIR is a partnership between UMass Worcester and UMass Boston. The goal is to develop innovative solutions to eliminate health disparities and equip the next generation of researchers to better serve vulnerable populations.  Central to CHEIR’s work is the use of storytelling as a tool to build research literacy and promote racial and ethnic health equity. We seek to develop culturally-responsive and literacy sensitive interventions in partnership with the populations affected by the disparities and the community-based organizations that serve them.

The overarching aim of CHEIR is to reduce the impact of health disparities by:

• Developing interventions, such as storytelling, that are tailored to deep cultural structure and literacy

• Focusing on strategies that engage the full spectrum of helpers available to patients

• Engaging vulnerable populations in the settings that serve them

• Infusing education and bi-directional academic-community learning throughout

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SEED Symposium 2015 Wrap-Up Summary!

The 2015 Synthesis Engagement and Elevation to Eliminate Disparities (SEED) Symposium held on June 11-12, 2015 far exceeded expectations! More than 100 participants from 11 states across the U.S. (Alaska, Connecticut, DC, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, and Vermont) participated in the symposium.  Participants included academic researchers and professors, health policy makers, community leaders, administrators, physicians, caregivers, and high school, undergraduate and graduate students.

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