Get Involved
Our Center is built on collaboration – between faculty and students in our founding institutions but also with partners across the Chicago area. There are many ways to get involved.
Source: Love & Struggle Photos
Chicago Reader: Teaching Guide
In this teaching guide for our book, Community Health Equity: A Chicago Reader, we identify a set of discussion questions, as well as keywords, supplementary materials and videos.
Submit Your Work
We welcome submissions for our working papers series. Everyone is welcome to submit papers, including students, faculty and community partners.
Youth Mental Health First Aid Training
On April 9, 2025, the Center for Community Health Equity proudly hosted an in-person Youth Mental Health First Aid (2nd Edition) training at DePaul University. The session was led by Dr. Raj C. Shah, Co-Director of the Center, and brought together community members, students, and professionals committed to supporting youth mental health.
Building Belonging: Get Involved
The Art of Cultural Competence
By Vishwa Bhatt
In this powerful and deeply personal reflection, Vishwa Bhatt shares the story of her grandfather (“Dada”) an Indian immigrant, chemist, and meditator whose journey through the U.S. healthcare system reveals the critical need for cultural competence in medicine. The narrative explores the emotional and clinical disconnects that arise when traditional healing systems like Ayurveda are dismissed, and how that dismissal can have serious consequences.
Vishwa calls for a healthcare system rooted in structural belonging where patient traditions, beliefs, and emotions are honored alongside biomedical science. Her essay is a reminder that listening, curiosity, and cultural humility can transform not only outcomes, but relationships between providers and patients.
This piece is a tribute to resilience, intergenerational love, and the vision of a healthcare future that embraces diversity in every sense.