At CHER, we center communities in our work. We work in communities and with communities. And we build our community of researchers every time we expand our team.
One of our newest colleagues is already showing her commitment to communities. Joyce Yao is a graduate student working with NC CEAL. Her commitment doesn’t end with work. She’s been known to get on stage and into the literal spotlight for community projects.
Get to know Joyce in this Q&A.
Tell us about your role at CHER. What’s your position and focus?
I am a graduate research assistant on the NC CEAL “Food is Medicine” project. The project centers community partnerships to promote healthy food for chronic disease prevention on multiple socioecological levels.
I am helping Dr. Kristin Black with concept mapping, a cool quantitative/qualitative community-based participatory research (CBPR) tool!
What was your path to CHER?
I learned about CHER as an undergrad in the Gillings School of Global Public Health and have always wanted to be engaged in this kind of community of health equity work.
Luckily, my graduate work is housed in CHER so I’ve already gotten to experience the community of learning and inspiration that it offers since joining a couple months ago.
This is my first introduction to health equity research and I have been blown away by the variety of amazing work that is being done in CHER.
What Are your goals while at CHER?
I hope to learn the different ways that the public health field is fortifying bridges between public research institutions like UNC-Chapel Hill and the communities we aim to serve, ensuring resources and research are meaningful and accessible, and supporting empowering environments where community members can be authentic nodes.
I would like to continue developing community-based health equity research skills, explicitly grounding my current research experience in health equity learning, and centering real-world applications in my classroom environments.
I’m excited to see how leaders in this field are using various levers to cultivate community health equity through campus-community collaboration and where I might be able to contribute!
What are some challenges you’ve faced in your field of work?
I have already seen this demonstrated so well with my current project, but I’m eager to practice leading with the “human touch”/authentic care aspect within research, alongside the CBPR tools that we use.
As much as we can follow CBPR methods, I want to also make sure that I continue to uphold those values of community care, and not just go through the motions even with pressures like logistics, convenience and outcomes.
What’s a fun fact about you?
In college I participated in the Community Empowerment Fund’s “Affordable Housing Musical,” which was a wholesome community production.
Every Friday, college students, community members who had experienced being unhoused, and volunteer theater aficionados would share a meal and then craft scenes, songs and dances.
We had a final performance and even a few town council members showed up. Less importantly, this is when I learned I am very bad at acting and choreography.