UConn School of Medicine’s Linda Sprague Martinez, Ph.D. was the keynote speaker at the Connecticut Public Health Association Annual Conference on November 18.

Sprague Martinez is a professor in the Departments of Medicine and Public Health Sciences and is also director of the Health Disparities Institute (HDI) at UConn Health.

Sprague Martinez’ keynote address to the conference attendees focused on the importance of community engagement and participatory research for building healthy communities and advancing health equity.

In her speech Sprague Martinez shared core challenges to community engagement and strategies for overcoming them through systems change.

“People in communities know what they need to be healthy,” she shared. As such, to find a way forward Sprague Martinez believes we need to listen better and learn from them, especially when it comes to developing interventions. At the conference she shared how HDI is collaborating with the state Commission on Racial Equity for Public Health to launch a community-based research project recruiting citizens from across the state as community research advisors and faculty to advance health equity.

Plus, at the event Sprague Martinez felt the support of her UConn Health community too.

“It was great to see UConn Health’s big presence at the conference, with students, faculty and staff from Public Health Sciences,” shared Sprague Martinez who applauds UConn for the contributions it makes to producing the state’s current and future public health workforce.

The Department of Public Health Sciences served as a key sponsor of the conference with its Stacey Brown, Ph.D. also delivering remarks. Brown shared her insights about community-engaged research and its role in creating meaningful change.

“Attending the CT Public Health Association’s annual meeting is always a powerful reminder of the importance of our collective work in advancing health equity and improving community well-being. Further, it was truly gratifying to see our students learn from and have the opportunity to network with stakeholders from across the state. Together, we can tackle the pressing public health challenges that confront us today and tomorrow.”

Brown serves UConn as associate professor and co-program director of the Program in Applied Public Health Sciences.

Held at the Aqua Turf Club in Plantsville, Conn. this year’s conference theme was “Building Healthier Communities Together: Centering on Community for Changemaking,” highlighting the importance of collaborative efforts to improve public health outcomes and as community engagement at the cornerstone of effective public health initiatives.