Center for Health Equity Education, Research and Practice (CHEERP)
What is CHEERP?
The Center for Health Equity Education, Research and Practice (CHEERP). CHEERP is a collective of diverse professionals across the health care fields at Kean who collaboratively seek to address health disparities in local underserved communities. The CHEERP interprofessional team is comprised of health professionals and students representing nursing, speech pathology, occupational therapy, public health, physician assistant studies, physical therapy and educational leadership. The value of this diverse composition has enabled both faculty and students to draw on their complementary expertise to meet the multifaceted needs of the local community, as well as develop a deeper understanding of the intersections of health disparities.
Current Work and Collaborations
Current work includes: Research and practice in the Haitian community in Elizabeth, New Jersey to promote access and equity for racial and ethnically diverse populations who have chronic conditions, and whose health has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Project topic: Patient Navigation, Motivational Interviewing, & Technology to Promote Patient Engagement & Activation in Chronic Disease Self-management Practices in Disadvantaged Populations
Community Partnerships:
Haitian American Nurses Association of Garden State
email: hanaofgardenstate@gmail.com
Upcoming Event:
Health Equity Education, Research and Practice - Research Team
Prisca Anuforo, DPN
Executive Director
School of Nursing
Carnegie Foundation African Diaspora Fellow
Consuelo A. Bonillas, Ph.D.
Program Coordinator-Public Health
Program Director- NJ Personal Responsibility Education & Sexual Risk Avoidance Education
College of Education, School of Health & Human Performance
Elizabeth Locke, PT, Ph.D.
Executive Director and Associate Professor
School of Physical Therapy
Mariann E Moran, OTD, OTR, CHT
Interim Department Chair
Department of Occupational Therapy
Mahchid Namazi, M.S., Ph.D. CCC-SLP
Tenured faculty and Executive Director
School of Communication Disorders & Deafness
Soundaram Ramaswami, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor and Doctoral Program Coordinator
Department of Educational Leadership
Wendy A. Ritch, M.A., MTS
Director of Didactic Education and Principal Faculty
School of Physician Assistant Studies
Community Partners: Marline Edmond (Public Health Community Liaison), Woody Philippe (Community Leader), Yveni Montilus (Community member); Rose Raymond (Nurse, Student), Marie Therency (Nurse).
Contemporary Issues in Health Equity
“To be Black and all of yourself and survive is hard enough in supremacist systems that command code-switching to navigate. To be Black and woman, Black and immigrant — to add an identity atop your Blackness — is another obstacle course in living and loving. To be Black and queer or Black and trans? This is a fight to exist. At least 46 transgender and gender nonconforming people have been killed this year, more officially recorded murders of this kind than in any other year. Anti-transgender violence is an epidemic in America, as declared by the American Medical Association.”
A Race-Free Approach to Diagnosing Chronic Kidney Disease – NIH Director's Blog