Building Capacity in Nutrition and Health: Promoting Equity through Research on Racial Discrimination

9:00 AM | Registration and Check-In


9:30 AM – 10:00 AM | Welcome & Opening Remarks by Dr. Christina Economos, Dean of the Gerald J. and Dorothy R. Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy at Tufts University; Professor and New Balance Chair in Childhood Nutrition


10:00 AM – 11:00 AM | Session 1: Building an Asset-Based Approach to Racial Health Research

Dr. Melicia Whitt-Glover (Council on Black Health)Introduction to the Mission, History, and Organizational Framework of the Council on Black Health
Dr. Olivia Affuso (Council on Black Health)Asset-Based Approaches in Racial Health Research and Practical Strategies for Adoption

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM | Session 2: Equity-Focused Approaches to Nutrition-Related Research Using Systems Science Methods

Dr. Shiriki Kumanyika (Council on Black Health)The Getting to Equity (GTE) in Obesity Prevention Toolkit and Implementing Proactive Systems Approaches During Project Planning
Dr. Travis Moore & Yui Chang-Chusan (Tufts University)Practical Application of the GTE Toolkit in Community-Based Systems Science Research and Implications for Addressing Racial Discrimination in Food Systems

12:00 PM – 12:15 PM | Break


12:15 PM – 1:15 PM | Keynote Address by Dr. David R. Williams, Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Professor of African and African American Studies and of Sociology, Harvard University


1:15 PM – 2:00 PM | Lunch & Networking


2:00 PM – 3:00 PM | Session 3: Where People Live & Why It Matters for Health Equity

Dr. Chelsea Singleton (Tulane University)Mechanisms by Which Neighborhood Violence Impedes Diet and Health Outcomes
Dr. Mark Pachucki (UMass Amherst)Using Social Network Analysis to Understand and Curb Health Disparities
Dr. Danielle Krobath (University of South Carolina, Columbia)The Effects of Residential Racial Segregation on Cardiometabolic Outcomes in U.S. Adolescents
Dr. Vanessa Nicholson (Tufts University)Using Qualitative Data to Center Community Voice and Confront the Historical Harms of Racism in Nutrition Equity Research

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM | Session 4: Developing Action Items and Next Steps

Objective: Summarizes lessons learned and provides an opportunity for networking and identifying actionable steps for advancing new research, policies, and interventions related to nutrition, health equity, and racial discrimination. More details forthcoming.