Recent Posts

Recent Center report shows local organizations require more flexible funding and a focus on capacity building in order to advance equity and improve health

Changes to funding streams, infrastructure, and increased resources are recommended to improve Richmond-area community health and wellbeing, according to the latest collaboration between the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Center on Society and Health (CSH), Engaging Richmond, and the VCU Center for Urban and Regional Analysis (CURA). The researchers recently published a report, “Regional Scan and…

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Director Emeritus Steven Woolf at NASEM Workshop on Educational Success

On June 14th, Director Emeritus Dr. Steven Woolf spoke at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s (NASEM) Roundtable on Population Health Improvement’s workshop in Oakland, California. The workshop–“School Success: An Opportunity for Population Health Action“–brought together leaders in medicine and education to explore how the health sector can be used to help improve…

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Bright Spots: Shadelle Gregory and Community Oriented Health Logistics

By Shadelle Gregory Hi all! My name is Shadelle Gregory, I am approaching my final year at the University of Virginia, majoring in Public Health and minoring in Anthropology. I am currently interning at the Center on Society and Health where I’m assisting in data analysis and community engagement projects. I’ll also be writing the…

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Engaging Richmond researchers graduate from Leadership Metro Richmond

  On June 6, Leadership Metro Richmond (LMR) graduated the Leadership Quest Class of 2018. This nearly 70 member class consisted of leaders from several sectors across the Richmond area, including Engaging Richmond founding members and CSH researchers Chanel Bea and Chimere Miles. The Leadership Quest program brings together area leaders from across sectors to…

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Teaching Awards to Center Faculty

For the second year in a row, graduates of the VCU Master’s of Public Health Program presented CSH Director Derek Chapman, PhD, and CSH Affiliate Faculty Roy Sabo, PhD, with awards for their excellence in teaching. The VCU Public Health Student Association presents annual awards to faculty members who teach the best core course and…

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Death rates are rising in Virginia’s white population: New VCU report examines troubling trends

“The opioid crisis is the tip of the iceberg,” states a new report from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Center on Society and Health, which includes alarming information about rising death rates in Virginia. Stress-related conditions, including not only unintentional drug overdoses, but also suicides, alcoholic liver disease, and alcohol poisonings, are killing white Virginians aged 25-to-54…

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Recent BMJ editorial by Center Director explores role of policies in failing health of the United States

Drugs, alcohol and suicides are contributing to an alarming drop in U.S. life expectancy, particularly among middle-aged white Americans and those living in rural communities, according to an editorial co-authored by Virginia Commonwealth University Center on Society and Health director Steven Woolf, M.D. The editorial, titled “Failing Health of the United States,” published in the…

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Governor Ralph Northam cites 20 year difference in life expectancy in Richmond, as reported by VCU Center on Society and Health

In his inaugural address, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam pointed to health disparities across the state, highlighting the difference in life expectancy in Richmond: “In far too many places in Virginia, your zip code determines not just how well you will do, but how long you will live. Here in our capital city, a child born…

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Center report finds startling increases in deaths due to substance abuse, suicides among Missouri whites

According to a study released by the Center on Society and Health, in partnership with the Graduate School of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, “deaths of despair”—those related to drugs and alcohol and other causes of death linked to stress—are skyrocketing among young and middle-aged whites in rural Missouri. The study, funded by…

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Center awarded $289,510 grant for place-based investigation of the Health of the States

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation has awarded the Center on Society and Health $289,510 to conduct research to identify how place-based factors drive-state level health and health equity. This Health of the States 2 (HOTS2) project will expand on the previous Health of the States investigation by exploring the complex interrelationships between 123 determinants of…

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