December 21, 2022
Dear Friends,
In 2022, the Center for Chronic Disease Research and Policy celebrated ten years of improving the care and health of individuals at risk for, and living with, chronic diseases. As the founding director, it has been wonderful to experience the tremendous expansion of the center’s projects and mission over the past decade. I’m excited to share a few highlights from the past year below.
This year, members of the CDRP made incredible strides in their research, received awards, and published prolifically.
Early in the year, we saw the launch of the Chicago Chronic Condition Equity Network (C3EN) in partnership with Rush University, which seeks community-focused solutions to reduce health disparities in populations with multiple chronic conditions.
This year also brings the conclusion of landmark national studies: a three-year federal contract, the Financial Analysis Research Agenda (FARA), which produced recommendations for the future of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Health Center Program that serves 30 million disadvantaged patients across the nation, and a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) committee study on improving nursing home quality that was one and a half years in the making.
In October, we hosted our 10th Annual Symposium—our first in-person symposium since the start of the pandemic, featuring a keynote speech by Chicago Public Health Commissioner Allison Arwady.
Among our faculty, Dr. Monica Peek, Ellen H. Block Professor for Health Justice, was elected to the National Academy of Medicine, joining CDRP faculty affiliates Vineet Arora, MD, MAPP, Marshall Chin, MD, MPH, and David Meltzer, MD, PhD as esteemed members of the NAM.
Our Primary care Investigators Training in Chronic disease and Health disparities (PITCH) fellowship continues to train the next generation of primary care clinical investigators to improve health outcomes and care delivery for patients with chronic diseases from underserved backgrounds—we are looking forward to welcoming two new fellows, John Flores and Lauren Mitchell, this July.
We are proud to continue our research on the causes, prevention, and treatment of chronic diseases, and we are excited about how our research directs and supports policy that contributes to health equity and public health.
We wish you health–and look forward to sharing further developments in 2023 and beyond.
Warmly,
Elbert Huang