| Project Title | Summary | Topics |
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The Big Cities Health Coalition (BCHC) is a forum for the leaders of America’s largest metropolitan health departments to exchange strategies and jointly address issues to promote the health and safety of the 62 million people they serve. |
COVID-19 Health Inequities Urban Policies |
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Drexel-INCAP Training Program on Social Determinants of Cardiovascular Disease Over the Life Course; |
The Drexel Urban Health Collaborative (UHC) and the Research Center for the Prevention of Chronic Diseases (CIIPEC) at the Institute for Nutrition of Central America and Panama (INCAP) partnered to establish a training program on cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk across the lifespan. |
Cardiovascular Health Health Inequities Lessons from Latin America |
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Drexel University’s Urban Health Collaborative partnered with the Big Cities Health Coalition (BCHC) to release the “COVID-19 Health Inequities in Cities Dashboard." This dashboard is a powerful data tool that enables visualizations of COVID-19 related outcomes and inequities over time and across BCHC cities. |
COVID-19 Health Inequities |
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| Big Cities Health Indicators Data Platform |
In partnership with the Big Cities Health Coalition, the Drexel Urban Health Collaborative updated and redesigned the coalition’s data resource, called the Big Cities Health Inventory (BCHI) data platform. The Big Cities Health Coalition is a forum for the leaders of America's largest metropolitan health departments to exchange strategies and jointly address issues to promote and protect the health and safety of their residents. |
Built Environment Health Inequities Maternal and Child Health |
| Cedar Campus Evaluation |
Researchers from Drexel University’s Urban Health Collaborative partnered with The Research and Evaluation Group (R&E Group) at Public Health Management Corporation (PHMC) to conduct a baseline evaluation of the PHMC Public Health Campus on Cedar (Cedar Campus) in Southwest Philadelphia using a community-engaged, place-based approach. |
Health Inequities Philadelphia Neighborhoods Urban Policies |
| Neighborhood Impacts of Cognitive Health and Dementia Disparities | This project leverages and extends novel longitudinal neighborhood and cognition data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). It addresses major research gaps by identifying unique patterns of neighborhood change related to the causes of prevalence and disparities in cognitive decline and dementia. |
Aging Built Environment Health Inequities |
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Community IMPACT: Reducing Cancer in Philadelphia Neighborhoods |
This project aims to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the burden of cancer across Philadelphia neighborhoods paying special attention to quantifying disparities in cancer by neighborhood, race, and socioeconomic characteristics. |
Cancer Health Inequities Philadelphia Neighborhoods |
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In partnership with the World Resources Institute (WRI) and WRI-Brasil, members of the Drexel Urban Health Collaborative and SALURBAL are studying the ways social factors and built environments contribute to health impacts of extreme heat across neighborhoods in Belo Horizonte and Campinas, Brazil. |
Aging Built Environment Health Inequities |
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| Assessing Individual- and Neighborhood-Level Indicators of Social Determinants of Health as Predictors of COVID-19 Outcomes |
The goal of the study was to contribute to the knowledge on COVID-19 inequities and identify population groups and communities at greater risk for adverse COVID-19 outcomes. |
Built Environment COVID-19 Health Inequities |
| Social Determinants of Fatty Liver Disease and its Racial/Ethnic Disparities: The Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis |
Mortality from chronic liver disease is a pivotal contributor to the recent decline in life expectancy in the US. This project is poised to provide robust new evidence about pathways between social determinants as well as the physical and social environments of communities and fatty liver disease (FLD) risk and has the potential of elucidating direct areas for policy or clinical intervention. It will also identify underlying structural determinants of excess risk among low SES and ethnic minority populations. |
Aging Built Environment Health Inequities |
| Evaluating Local Policies for Cardiovascular and Respiratory Disease Impact | As the patchwork of health-related policies in our cities becomes increasingly complex, a complete understanding of the effectiveness of each individual policy is crucial to deciding which strategies to maintain and consider for use in other cities. The project began by classifying all legislation in New York City during the Bloomberg administration for its relevance to key risk factors: outdoor air pollution, tobacco use, physical inactivity, and poor nutrition. |
Cardiovascular Health Urban Policies |
| Freedom from the Station: Spatial Equity in Access to Dockless Bike Share |
Jana Hirsch, PhD, MES, associate research professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the Drexel Urban Health Collaborative, was the principal investigator of this examination of equity in new models of bikeshare. |
Safe and Active Transportation Urban Policies |
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Health Aging in European Cities: Understanding Aging in an Urban Context |
Researchers at the Urban Health Collaborative and the Dornsife School of Public Health are identifying the social, environmental and policy factors that contribute to healthy aging in cities. This project will develop and make use of a unique, harmonized database that integrates existing longitudinal aging studies across 10 European cities, as well as cities in Canada and the U.S. |
Aging |
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Combining expertise in legal epidemiology and policy evaluation, this collaborative project will identify and evaluate laws and policies related to HIV, Viral Hepatitis, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and Tuberculosis. The results of this study will strengthen the ability of public health stakeholders to deploy evidence-based policies to improve health and reduce disparities. |
Urban Policies | |
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This pilot study investigated whether high ambient temperatures are associated with increased risk of infant mortality, and if the association is stronger in poorer, minority areas with less vegetation or tree canopy. |
Environmental Health and Climate Change Maternal and Child Health Philadelphia Neighborhoods |
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In the Philadelphia neighborhood of Mantua, home preservation and repairs were some of the critical needs identified by residents during a comprehensive neighborhood planning process. The UHC worked with the Home Preservation Initiative (HPI) to help understand the experience of residents and how their health and neighborhood conditions might be impacted by the program. |
Built Environment Health Inequities Philadelphia Neighborhoods |
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The Center for Hunger-Free Communities, with a team consisting of researchers from the Urban Health Collaborative, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Maryland, and Boston Medical Center, collaborated to address this complex, yet impactful study of the multi-level, multi-generational impact of housing disparities and discrimination. |
Health Inequities Maternal and Child Health Philadelphia Neighborhoods |
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This mixed-methods study focused on understanding how factors at multiple levels, such as neighborhood characteristics and food assistance programs like WIC, influence the impact of food insecurity on young children’s growth over time. |
Health Inequities Maternal and Child Health |
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Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are specific psychosocial stressors and traumas experienced by children that have been strongly linked with health and wellbeing throughout life. This project examines possible intergenerational effects of parents’ past exposure to ACEs and their children’s health, health behaviors, and health care access and utilization. This was one of the first studies to look at ACEs from an intergenerational perspective. |
Health Inequities Maternal and Child Health Philadelphia Neighborhoods |
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The Jackson Heart Study Social Determinants of Health Working Group |
The Jackson Heart Study (JHS) is an NHLBI- & NIMHD-supported cohort study of cardiovascular diseases among African Americans in Jackson, MS with an established network of JHS Vanguard Centers and scientific Working Groups (WGs) to support the following goals of the JHS: (1) conduct novel epidemiologic research on cardiovascular and related diseases, (2) serve as a resource to the scientific community in future research, (3) promote research training for early career investigators and other trainees in cardiovascular health equity, and (4) promote cardiovascular health in Jackson, MS. |
Cardiovascular Health |
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Use of a National Retail Database to Describe Marijuana Dispensary Location and Equity |
This project seeks to develop a nationwide database of marijuana dispensaries across the continental United States and understand spatial patterning of cannabis retail locations. Our main objective is to understand where marijuana dispensaries, specifically related to the relationship between the locations of dispensaries and the sociodemographics of the neighborhoods where they are located. Our long-term goal is to find ways in which marginalized communities are not further disadvantaged by drug policies as legalization continues to expand. |
Philadelphia Neighborhoods |
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To understand opportunities for childhood physical activity, the research team collected data in neighborhood parks across New York City, including "anchor parks" slated for enhancement in the coming years: St, Mary's Park in the South Bronx and Highbridge Park in upper Manhattan. |
Health Inequities Maternal and Child Health |
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IF YOU BUILD IT, WILL THEY COME: An Evaluation of Design, Context, and Engagement |
During the summer of 2022, a team of researchers from the Drexel Urban Health Collaborative and Westphal College of Media Arts & Design conducted a process evaluation of 16 Play Everywhere installations throughout the city of Philadelphia. The overarching aim was to better understand aspects of the sites and neighborhoods that can facilitate greater use of Play Everywhere installations and to provide information for future rounds of funding to create more effective spaces. |
Philadelphia Neighborhoods |
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Neighborhoods can have a major effect on health, and children are particularly vulnerable to the built and social aspects of neighborhoods. This project, a close collaboration between Drexel University, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), Independence Blue Cross and the University of Pennsylvania, will leverage robust environmental data capabilities to use big data methods to prevent childhood illness. |
Maternal and Child Health Philadelphia Neighborhoods |
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Many Puerto Rican evacuees have migrated to the United States mainland after facing displacement and hardship associated with natural disasters. The relocation patterns resulting from Hurricanes Maria and Irma in September 2017 and the continual earthquakes since January 2020 have caused many Puerto Ricans to migrate to the U.S. Northeast and South, with Philadelphia as a migration hub. This study aimed to investigate Philadelphia’s overall response to the needs of Puerto Rican evacuees following the hurricanes. |
Environmental Health and Climate Change Health Inequities Philadelphia Neighborhoods |
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The Retail Environment and Cardiovascular Disease (RECVD) study assessed how changes to access to healthy food sources, medical facilities, and physical activity venues relate to cardiovascular disease, cognitive decline, and subsequent residential relocation of older adults in the U.S., with a focus on addressing health disparities. |
Built Environment Cardiovascular Health Health Inequities |
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In this project, we aimed to map resources and hazards driving population health patterns across Rio das Pedras. We surveyed residents and conducted in depth interviews on their household health needs, risk factors, salient barriers to health, and perceptions of public health-protective infrastructure changes. |
Built Environment Lessons from Latin America |
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Launched in 2017, the Salud Urbana en América Latina (SALURBAL) or Urban Health in Latin America Project 2017-2023 convened faculty, students, and staff at Drexel University's Dornsife School of Public Health and from partner institutions across Latin America and the United States. |
Health Inequities Lessons from Latin America Urban Policies |
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Climate Change and Urban Health in Latin America (SALURBAL-Climate) |
In late 2023, the SALURBAL team secured renewed funding from the Wellcome Trust to expand research on climate change and public health in Latin America. “SALURBAL-Climate” 2023-2028 addresses a critical need for evidence linking climate change to health impacts across Latin America. Our research examines the impacts of climate-related exposures, including extreme temperatures, droughts, floods, and air pollution on health and health inequities. |
Environmental Health and Climate Change Health Inequities Lessons from Latin America Urban Policies |
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The COVID-19 pandemic has wide inequities in COVID-19 outcomes that have been reported for racial/ethnic minorities, including Hispanics. Hispanics suffer from specific social vulnerabilities that lead to increased risk of infection, and increased prevalence specific risk factors that lead to increased risk of severe illness. |
COVID-19 Health Inequities Lessons from Latin America |
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Systematic Transportation and Recreation Environment Evaluations using Technology (STREET) |
STREET aims to understand neighborhood physical disorder and pedestrian safety across select cities in the Americas by conducting virtual audits. STREET builds on prior data collection efforts from the Rio das Pedras Community Health Diagnosis, and SALURBAL. |
Built Environment Lessons from Latin America Safe and Active Transportation Urban Policies |
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The goal of this project was to create a system to monitor, document, and disseminate local policy actions that can impact population health and improve health equity. While much public health policy is enacted at the federal and state levels, cities play an important role in developing and implementing policies and programs that impact population health, but systems designed to understand these practices across cities are lacking. |
Urban Policies | |
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Violence Profile for the Eastern North Philadelphia Community |
Children and families in the Latino community of Eastern North Philadelphia are disproportionately exposed to violence, the consequences of which include emotional trauma and associated adverse effects throughout adolescence and into adulthood. This project systematically integrated data that describes community-level violence related disparities, risk factors, consequences, and assets. Researchers used existing data from multiple sources and sectors in new ways to better understand and describe the extent of the problem. |
Health Inequities Philadelphia Neighborhoods |
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The West Philly Promise Neighborhood was a U.S. Department of Education funded grant to support "cradle-to-career" opportunities for children living or going to school in Belmont, East Parkside, Mantua, Mill Creek, Powelton Village, and West Powelton/Saunders Park. The initiative sought to improve education, health, and economic successes for children, their families and communities. |
Health Inequities Maternal and Child Health Philadelphia Neighborhoods |