During the COVID-19 pandemic, issues of community engagement and health equity emerged as critical areas of focus. Throughout this period, Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH) serves as the engagement lead on several NIH COVID-19 projects. Recently, CCPH partnered with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) as the community engagement lead on a new initiative called RECOVER.
NIH launched RECOVER in 2021 to address the long-term effects of the SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19. This national research effort brings together scientists, clinicians, patients, caregivers, community members, and other partners to identify the causes for and means to prevent and treat post-COVID conditions and symptoms, including what is commonly called Long COVID or long-haul COVID.
CCPH has recruited Dr. Natasha Williams and Dr. Tony Minor to present for a special webinar on Long COVID and community engagement. Join us for this opportunity to hear first-hand about the work on Long COVID and opportunities for community engagement. We also hope to hear from individuals who are or have experienced Long COVID.
Presenters:
Dr. Natasha Williams
Dr. Natasha Williams is a social and behavioral research scientist. She is an Associate Professor within the Department of Population Health, Institute for Excellence in Health Equity at NYU Grossman School of Medicine with expertise in behavioral sleep medicine, community-engaged research, and health equity. She served as Chair of the Sleep Special Interest Group for the Society of Behavioral Medicine since 2018 and is Chair of the Scientific Research Committee for the Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine. She has over 80 publications in peer-reviewed journals including the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, Annals of Behavioral Medicine, and Sleep Health. She is MPI of two NIH Rapid Acceleration and Diagnostics for Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) studies to address disparities related to COVID-19 among Black and Latinx communities and is the Community Engagement Lead for the NIH Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative. In addition, she is a member of the NIH Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Inclusive Participation Work Group. She is also MPI of the maternal health community implementation project funded by NHLBI.
Tony Minor, D. Min.
Manager for Faith-Based Outreach at MetroHealth Medical System and Co-Chair of RECOVER National Community Engagement Group
As the manager of Faith-Based Outreach at the MetroHealth Medical System, Tony manages a community-wide network of faith-based organizations to collaboratively improve the health of community members. He also currently operates Project Thrive, a faith-based initiative designed to equip faith communities to respond to community trauma, toxic stress, and grief.
He recently served as the Director of Advocacy for the Lutheran Metropolitan Ministry (LMM), focusing on public policy issues impacting vulnerable populations. He also served as the director of Project Safe, an HIV prevention program, and as the Co-Manager of Father and Families Together at the Center for Families and Children in Cleveland. He also developed the Safe Streets/Safe Schools, a project designed to address issues related to community violence and trauma.
Tony has a B.A. degree in English from Morehouse College and a Master’s of Divinity from the Inter-Denominational Theological Center and a Doctor of Ministry Degree from the United Theological Seminary in Dayton.
Facilitated by:
Al Richmond
