SINAI Urban Health Institute

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SUHI Celebrates 10 Years! In March of 2010, Sinai Urban Health Institute celebrated its 10th Anniversary

Friday, 21 May 2010 19:08

SUHI Celebrates 10 Years! In March of 2010, Sinai Urban Health Institute celebrated its 10th Anniversary.

Sinai Urban Health Institute Celebrates 10 Years of Research, Evaluation and Changing Health Disparities in Chicago Communities
Chicago, February17, 2010         In March of 2010, Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI) will celebrate its 10th anniversary in the Glasser Auditorium of Mount Sinai Hospital on Chicago’s west side.
 
As the evaluation and research institute within the Sinai Health System, SUHI’s vision is to serve as a leading urban health research institute for eliminating health disparities and working toward health equity. Its mission is to develop and implement effective approaches that improve the health of urban communities through data-driven research, evaluation, and community engagement.  A major component of SUHI’s work involves examining the impact of social issues such as poverty on health.  Founded in 2000 as a part of Sinai Health System, the SUHI team strongly believes that, if they collect data and do not use it to make things better, they have failed.
 
A diverse group of epidemiologists, research assistants and health educators involved in social epidemiology, program evaluation, teaching and consulting, SUHI focuses the crux of its work on eliminating health disparities in five key health areas:  Asthma, Breast Cancer, Diabetes, Obesity and Smoking Prevention.  In addition, SUHI evaluates projects in the health areas of HIV prevention and Access to Care for Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals.
 
SUHI takes the evidence, creates effective programs and informs the community about how various programs might help. Team members have made over 400 presentations to community-based organizations, professional societies, political organizations, medical centers and health departments in order to disseminate findings. SUHI has published over 20 articles in peer-reviewed journals, as well as reports on racial disparities in health. Over the 10 years of its existence, SUHI has been involved in writing grant proposals that have brought more than $18 million to Sinai Health System.
 
In addition to research, SUHI does a great deal of teaching in the shape of formal courses, grand round lectures and seminars. Topics range from descriptions of research findings to didactic lectures on methods. SUHI has also been responsible for evaluating some of Sinai Health System’s new health interventions. These have been related to pediatric asthma, at-risk infants, smoking cessation and more. In almost every case, the findings from these evaluations have been widely disseminated through presentations to professional societies and in publications in peer-reviewed journals.
 
A final noteworthy attribute of SUHI is its close relationship to several community organizations. These relationships have facilitated pursuit of community-based interventions for improved health in some of the most vulnerable neighborhoods in the city of Chicago. It is through the dedication and work of a gifted team and strong community partners, that SUHI has gained much ground on the path to alleviating health inequities.
A few of SUHI’s achievements are listed below:
·          In 2001, SUHI received funding from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to conduct the Sinai Improving Community Health Survey.
·          In 2004, SUHI released the Sinai Improving Community Health Survey Report I, which highlighted 10 important public health findings.
·          In 2004, SUHI published an article titled, Comparison of Health Status Indicators in Chicago: Are Black-White Disparities Worsening? in the American Journal of Public Health.
·          In 2006, SUHI published a research study and held a press conference that highlighted the extraordinarily high rate of diabetes in Humboldt Park.
·          In 2007, SUHI received a $2 million grant from the Avon Foundation to implement the project Helping Her Live: Gaining Control of Breast Cancer in Humboldt Park and North Lawndale.
·          In 2008, SUHI received a $1.5 million grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to implement the project Healthy Home Healthy Child: The Westside Children’s Asthma Partnership.
·          In 2009, SUHI published the article, Black-White Health Disparities in the United States and Chicago: A 15-Year Progress Analysis, in the American Journal of Public Health.
·          In 2009, SUHI received two separate grants from the National Institutes of Health, totaling over $3 million. The funds are being used to implement diabetes interventions in North Lawndale and Humboldt Park.
·          In 2010, a book showcasing SUHI’s work, titled Urban Health: Combating Disparities with Local Data, will be published by Oxford University Press.