You Spoke and We Listened
As we kick off our inaugural CHET Voices newsletter, we’d like to thank the 80+ thought leaders who participated in the CHET Strategic Planning Meeting on February 20th. You shared with us with your wishes, ideas, needs, and visions, and we listened! Over the next several months, we are excited to implement innovative programs and events guided by your feedback, as well as share ways to participate in CHET activities.
Your collaboration and support have energized our team, and we look forward to serving as a hub to foster and lift the fantastic health equity work being done at Northwestern, in Chicago, and beyond, for years to come!
Director, Melissa A. Simon, MD, MPH

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Thank you for joining us!
Meet the CHET Team
(left to right) Araceli Estrada, Sarah Rittner, Catherine O'Brian,
Dr. Melissa Simon, Rabih Dahdouh, Magdalena Nava,
Ivy Leung, Edgardo Ramirez, Laura Tom
Learn more about us here!
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Our sincere gratitude to Executive Leadership Dean Eric G. Neilson, Lurie Cancer Center Director Leonidas Platanias, and IPHAM Director Ronald Ackermann for their support and guidance in the launch of CHET.
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CHET Programming
The Strategic Planning Retreat and input from
partners helped us to develop the
5 CHET Program Pillars
and forthcoming programs.
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RESEARCH/SCHOLARSHIP
- CHET Connections, a lunch-and-learn series, will focus on works in progress, programming, and happenings that touch on health equity in and around the NU campuses. Presentations will encompass the work being done in all schools, departments, and institutions within Northwestern University and beyond. Presentations may include policy focus or other key issue relevant to anything about social justice and health. If you are interested in presenting at an upcoming CHET Connections talk, please email us at healthequity@northwestern.edu.
- Through a design-thinking lens, CHET will host / facilitate Health Equity by Design studio sessions to stimulate innovation and transformation of ideas into reality by convening stakeholders and leaders from across multiple sectors to help create new programming, grants, policy statements / whitepapers, etc. and promote improved health equity- designed approaches to scholarly activity, policy work, community programming and beyond. Additionally, CHET will link interested partners with a Health Equity Grant Review Consultant to create, support, or hone a health equity lens or element to their grant. If you are interested in participating in a Studio Session or would like to work with a Consultant, let us know by emailing healthequity@northwestern.edu.
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WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
- CHET's rolling Internship Program provides a unique opportunity for students of all ages and skill levels to work with Northwestern University faculty, staff, and collaborators to advance health equity work through research, programming, evaluation, and dissemination activities. To be considered for a CHET Internship, please click here to provide us with your information.
- A self-paced course with videos and interactive modules, Career 911 Academy plants the seed of possibility and lays the ground work for underrepresented and nontraditional students – and others who are interested in a career change -- to translate their life experiences and talent into marketable skills relevant to the health care workforce. Coursework includes articulating a personal story, resume and cover letter writing, job search, interviewing, professional networking and professional communications. Career 911 also features personal career stories, day in the life videos, a resource toolkit, and introduction to medical terminology. Click here to learn more or enroll, today!
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ENGAGEMENT
- The CHET Health Equity Pop-Up Series will foster safe spaces for dialogues, relationships, and information about how to achieve fair and high-quality health for all. Embedded in the community, this series will take place in differing communities and at organizations / institutions around the Northwestern Medicine catchment area (9 counties) to allow for accessible information and the bidirectional exchange of ideas around research, social determinants of health, and other pressing health issues.
- The annual half-day CHET Health Equity Showcase will convene researchers, students, and community members with the goal of highlighting health equity research, programming, training, funding, and art through different media. Attendees may share research findings, gain knowledge about community health equity happenings, and express questions, expectations, and concerns surrounding healthcare access and outcomes.
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COMMUNICATIONS
- Voices, CHET's monthly newsletter will provide up-to-date information on local and national initiatives, highlighting health equity research, resources, funding opportunities, and events. If you would like to have your work or event featured in Voices please email healthequity@northwestern.edu.
- The Skinny Trees: Lifting Health for All Podcast, amplifies community and research voices with a focus on health equity. Conversations and interviews will highlight current work to promote health equity, efforts to eliminate health disparities, and innovations by students, scientists, health care workers, and community leaders to improving health for all. To learn more or listen to past podcast episodes visit https://skinnytreespodcast.com/.
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POLICY/ADVOCACY
- An overarching barrier to health equity is the presence of bias and discrimination. Whether it be an individual’s race, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, education, employment, ability/disability, place, or space, prejudice and intolerance influence health access and outcomes. CHET vows to work with policy thought leaders to align programming with action-oriented advocacy issues.
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Health Equity Footprint
Help us develop a registry of current health equity research, programming, training, funding, and staffing across Northwestern University, collaborating medical centers, and community partner organizations by sharing your work with us!
Please use this form to tell us more about what you are doing to impact health equity!
We will use your responses to grow an expansive list of health equity happenings aimed at advancing current and future health equity efforts, supporting new innovative partnerships, and to leverage already-existing resources to the wider Northwestern University community.
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Listening Tour
We have been actively listening to the voices of colleagues, communities, policymakers, and students through events and meetings with partners, like you!
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Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill)
Last month Dr. Melissa Simon joined U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) along with U.S. Reps. Bill Foster (D-Ill.) and Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) on April 15, 2019 for an announcement of proposed legislation that would consistently increase federal research funding over the next five years. Read more here.
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NU Feinberg School of Medicine
CHET Director, Dr. Melissa Simon, met with students from Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine to discuss CHET programming and planning. Students described resources they would like to see included in CHET programming and ideas for future health equity innovations.
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Evanston Township High School
Last month, CHET Staff met with Evanston Township High School students interested in pursuing careers in STEM fields to discuss health equity and health care disparities. Students shared their experiences, gained a greater understanding of gaps persisting in their communities and brainstormed ideas for addressing inequities.
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UPCOMING HEALTH EQUITY EVENTS
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- Community Research Communications Training Series: Radio/Podcasts (Tuesday, May 14, 2019)
- Curricular Amendments: Teaching Health Equity to All of Our Learners (Tuesday, May 21, 2019)
- 2019 Diversity, Inclusion, and Health Equity Symposium (Wednesday, June 26, 2019)
- 12th AACR Conference on The Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved (September 20-23, 2019)
- Northwestern Women in Medicine:
Leading the Way (Friday, October 11, 2019)
- See more
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