On Thursday, March 24th, Phoenecia “Neci” Hill, the Community Engagement Coordinator from the Center on Society and Health, facilitated a conversation about health equity in Richmond and how people of color and other underserved populations can move forward past the COVID-19 pandemic. The discussion took place at the VCU Health Hub, located in Richmond’s East…
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Director emeritus of the VCU Center on Society and Health, Dr. Steven Woolf, published a viewpoint in the Journal of the American Medical Association that examined how an individual’s life expectancy in the United States depends on the state in which they live. Disparities in health across the states are growing, a trend that began…
At the Center on Society and Health, our primary charge is to shed light on conditions that cause and exacerbate health inequities. We believe that understanding the root causes of inequities in health helps to remedy injustices and improve health for everyone. As such, we are deeply troubled by the recently enacted “Texas Heartbeat Act,”…
Before COVID-19 forced life to come to a halt, Chimere Miles used to sit in her office and chat with moms from the neighborhood. Miles lent an open ear to any parent that needed to decompress and unwind. “When the pandemic hit we were worried about how we will engage with our families,” said Miles,…
California to Use Healthy Places Index in State’s Reopening Plan The California Department of Public Health announced that it will be using the California Healthy Places Index (HPI), a tool created by the Center on Society and Health, as part of their new health equity metric that will be used as part of the state’s…
In Follow-Up Study, Center Finds That Excess Death Trend Continues Through COVID-19 Pandemic In a follow-up study, the Center on Society and Health found that a shocking trend has continued beyond spring and through the summer–for every two deaths attributed to COVID-19 in the U.S. since March, a third person dies as a result of…
U.S. State Policies and Life Expectancy Last year, the VCU Center on Society and Health published a study that showed the mortality rates among working-age Americans continue to rise, causing a decrease in life expectancy in the United States. A new study, co-authored by the center’s director emeritus, Steven Woolf, seeks to explain this change….
For those looking to understand, design, and implement research collaborations between researchers and community members, patients, and other stakeholders, it can be hard to find detailed information about engagement methods and how they are implemented. But a new book, Researching Health Together: Engaging Patients and Stakeholders, from Topic Identification to Policy Change, was recently published…
New research from the Center on Society and Health at Virginia Commonwealth University finds that the number of publicly-reported deaths from COVID-19 may be underestimating the pandemic’s actual death toll. The study, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, shows that approximately 87,000 more Americans died between March 1, 2020, and April 25,…
In light of the continued killings of unarmed Black people in the United States–most recently the highly publicized murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery–and the protests that are occurring in our home of Richmond and across the country, the VCU Center on Society and Health wants to reaffirm its condemnation of racism…