Paul A. Godley Health Equity Research Week
The Paul A. Godley Health Equity Research Week (HERW), hosted by the Center for Health Equity Research, brings faculty, staff, students and community members together to share health equity research at UNC. HERW is an opportunity to facilitate collaboration, innovation and equity in the UNC School of Medicine, across Carolina’s communities and beyond. All sessions are open to the entire Carolina community and the general public.
In 2020, the UNC School of Medicine collaborated with CHER to host the first Paul A. Godley Health Equity Symposium. In 2023, the symposium expanded into a week dedicated to highlighting health equity research at Carolina. HERW 2025 will include research presentations, panel discussions and more.
đ Ada Adimora Student Research Award
We are excited to announce the Ada Adimora Student Research Award!
We established this award in memory of the late Ada Adimora, Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor of Medicine and professor of epidemiology. Dr. Adimora was a trailblazer in the area of HIV and STIs epidemiological research among African Americans, âshedding light on the epidemiology of heterosexual HIV transmission among African Americans, emphasizing the role of sexual network patterns and addressing the impact of macroeconomic and social forces on racial disparities in the US HIV epidemic.â
We are proud to honor her legacy with this student award. The Ada Adimora Student Research Award aims to inspire and promote student research. It recognizes a student who demonstrates dedication to impactful research advancing healthy communities. It also highlights Dr. Adimora’s commitment to student-faculty mentorship and the development of future researchers.Â
A UNC student will be selected from the HERW abstracts submissions for this award. The selected student awardee will present their research project during a featured session of HERW. They will receive a $300 monetary award.Â
Award applications require a timely submission to the HERW call of abstracts and the name of a faculty mentor.
2025 HERW schedule of events
We invite UNC faculty, staff, partners and/or students to register for HERW sessions. Learn how researchers across Carolina are working to build healthy communities for all.
| Date & Time | Title | Speaker(s) | Event type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday April 7 11:00 a.m. Eastern | HERW Launch Event/Meet the Researchers Register for Meet the Researchers | In-person kickoff session | |
| Monday April 7 1:00 p.m. Eastern | Time to treatment initiation among Black and White older adults with multiple myeloma: A SEER-Medicare analysis Register for Time to Treatment | Matthew LeBlanc | Presentation |
| Monday April 7 3:00 p.m. Eastern | Promoting Equity in Public Health Education through Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) Register for Promoting Equity | Marie Lina Excellent | Presentation |
| Tuesday April 8 11:00 a.m. Eastern | Lessons Learned from Establishing a Learning Collaborative to Support Community-Engaged Research Register for Lessons Learned | Veena Reddy | Presentation |
| Tuesday April 8 3:00 p.m. Eastern | Health Communication and Engagement Preference Among Black, Hispanic, Mandarin speaking North Carolina Residents Register for Health Communication | Courtney McMillian | Presentation |
| Wednesday April 9 11:00 a.m. Eastern | Identifying Gaps in Care Coordination for Patients Experiencing Homelessness at UNC Health Register for Identifying Gaps | Anahita Gupta | Presentation |
| Wednesday April 9 1:00 p.m. Eastern | Exploring Haitian Lived Experience in North Carolina Register for Exploring Haitian | Gimelly Bryant | Presentation |
| Wednesday April 9 3:00 p.m. Eastern | Childcare as a barrier to cancer screening: a nationally representative analysis Register for Childcase | Anisha Ganguly | Presentation |
| Thursday April 10 11:00 a.m. Eastern | Effect of Care Management on Pre-eclampsia among Medicaid beneficiaries in North Carolina Register for Effect of Care | Monisa Aijaz | Presentation |
| Thursday April 10 1:00 p.m. Eastern | The Public Health Emergency Preparedness Playbook: Resources and Lessons from the NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) Study Register for Public Health | Lia Kaz | Presentation |
| Thursday April 10 3:00 p.m. Eastern | Bridging Environmental and Health Inequities: PFAS Exposure and the Path to Improved Glioma Care Register for Bridging | Brayan Corona-Macedo | Presentation |
2024 HERW Highlights
Sessions and presenters
Registration and attendance
Feedback
Very well organized presentation with helpful graphics and charts. I also enjoyed the videos.
The presenters were really excellent. They are enthusiastic about their work and their findings are really interesting.
The voice recordings directly from participants and breaking up the presentation into sections for background and project info [made the session engaging].
About Dr. Paul A. Godley
HERW is named in honor of the late Dr. Paul A. Godley, Rush S. Dickson Professor of Hematology/Oncology in the UNC Department of Medicine and Vice Dean for Diversity and Inclusion in the UNC School of Medicine.
Dr. Godley directed the Ethnicity, Culture, and Health Outcomes (ECHO) program from its founding in 2001. His research and leadership helped improve identification, understanding and elimination of racial health disparities.
We are proud to honor his legacy through HERW to inspire impactful research on advancing access to quality healthcare for all.
Learn more about Dr. Godley at this page maintained by Victor J. Schoenbach, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.
About Dr. Ada Adimora
The Ada Adimora Student Research Award is named in honor of the late Ada Adimora, Sarah Graham Distinguished Professor of Medicine and Professor of Epidemiology in the UNC School of Medicine.
Dr. Adimora dedicated her career to patients with HIV disease and was a research leader in the areas of HIV/STI epidemiology. Her groundbreaking work informed evidence-based policy solutions to prevent the spread of HIV.
She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2019.
We are proud to honor her legacy through HERW with this award. The award is intended to inspire and promote student research and the importance of student-faculty mentorship and development of future researchers.
Learn more about Dr. Adimora (page maintained by Victor J. Schoenbach, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health).
Steering Committee
We’re working with the 2025 Paul A. Godley Steering Committee to plan this year’s program.
- Monique C. Bethell, Ph.D., MPH
- Stephan Constante, medical student (UNC-Chapel Hill)
- Giselle Corbie, M.D., M.Sc.
-
Michelle Floris-Moore, M.D., M.S.
- Tasseli McKay, Ph.D.
-
RaĂșl Necochea, Ph.D., M.Sc.
-
E. Nate Thomas III, Ph.D.
- Essie Torres, Ph.D., MPH
- Jonina Stith Wrenn, medical student (UNC-Chapel Hill)