USC Provost

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USC Provosts Retreat on Health Institutional
and Community Responses to Health
Disparities LaVonna Blair Lewis, PhD,
MPH llewis_at_usc.edu 213.740.4280

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Current Projects

• One Institutional Response to Health Disparities
  
• MHA Diversity in Healthcare Leadership
  Initiative
• One Community Response to Health Disparities
• African American Building a Legacy of Health
  Project (AABLH)

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I. MHA Diversity in Healthcare Leadership
Initiative

• Three core goals
• Increase awareness of health administration,
  policy and management as a viable career choice
  through networking and outreach
• Summer/Winter Enrichment Programs integrating
  academic and professional elements
• Ongoing mentoring and graduate school application
  support

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Overall Goal

• Five or more of each years participants
  successfully apply to a master of health
  administration degree program.
• To date, 12 out of 37 participants have
• already started Masters Programs

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II. AABLH Developing The Community Action Plan
(CAP) 1999-2000

• Participants included state and local government
  agencies, civil rights organizations, religious
  organizations, health care providers, for-profit
  and not-for-profit organizations, and community
  members
• All wanted to increase awareness among African
  Americans about health related issuesCVD and
  diabetes
• All willing to commit staff, time, and other
  resources to the project

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• Three Strategic Directions
• Recreating Community Norms Through Community
  Education (5 Interventions)
• Creating Economic Parity Through Community
  Development (3 Interventions)
• Supporting Policy and Institutional Change
  Through Community Empowerment (1 Intervention)
• Researchers Bring Bench knowledge
• Communities Bring Trench knowledge
• We need both to effectively address health
  disparities