This project seeks to document the biographies of researchers, clinicians, and activists that have devoted their careers to the cause of health equity.

These types of narratives are rarely recorded in the academic literature, and when they exist at all, tend to focus only on the notable leaders in the field. We started this project with the relatively simple goal of collecting and archiving qualitative stories of a wide spectrum of people working on different aspects of health equity in Chicago – over time, building an archive that might add a layer of complexity to the narratives we have in the academic literature.

Check out our Spotify account for Voices of Community Health Equity Project.

As an extension of our Voices of Community Health Equity Project, we welcome you to our CCHE Podcast.

Voices of Community Health Equity: A Conversation with Dr. Margaret M. Storey

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Margaret Storey, Professor of History in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at DePaul University. Dr. Storey is a historian of the United States with expertise in the Civil War era, slavery and anti-slavery movements, Reconstruction, and the Jim Crow period. Her scholarship explores how history, power, and representation shape our understanding of justice and equity today. She is also a 2025–27 DePaul Humanities Center Fellow, curating a Newberry Library exhibit titled “Conceived in Liberty: Cartoons, Caricatures, and Illustrations in the Wartime United States, 1812–1918.” Beyond academia, Dr. Storey advocates for children and young adults with medical complexity and disability, serving on the board of The Sadie McCann Fund, which supports families of children with Aicardi Syndrome.

Voices of Community Health Equity: A Conversation with Tarisha J. Washington

In this episode, we sit down with Tarisha Washington, Epidemiology Research Coordinator at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center and a dedicated advocate for community-centered research. Tarisha shares insights from her work at the Institute of Translational Medicine (ITM) and the Trial Recruitment Innovation Office (TRIO), where she uses design thinking to address barriers to recruitment and retention in clinical research. With a background that blends years of community engagement and advanced training in public health and nursing research, Tarisha brings a powerful perspective on how trust, innovation, and community partnership can drive more inclusive research and advance health equity.

Voices of Community Health Equity: A Conversation with Maureen Benjamins

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Maureen Benjamins, Senior Research Fellow at the Sinai Urban Health Institute (SUHI) in Chicago and a nationally recognized social epidemiologist. Dr. Benjamins shares insights from her extensive research on structural racism, the social determinants of health, and the powerful impact of place on community well-being.

From her leadership in advancing data-driven approaches to health equity, to her influential work documenting health disparities in Chicago, Dr. Benjamins brings a compelling perspective on how research, policy, and community partnerships can come together to eliminate health inequities and build healthier, more just communities.

Voices of Community Health Equity: A Conversation with Dr. Ansuk Jeong

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Ansuk Jeong, Assistant Professor of Psychology at DePaul University and internationally recognized expert in community psychology and psycho-oncology. Dr. Jeong shares insights from her global research on loneliness prevention, mental health equity, and cross-cultural healing.

From her work as a principal investigator for the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism of Korea to her leadership roles with the Korean Psycho-Oncology Society and the American Psychological Association's Society for Community Research and Action, Dr. Jeong brings a powerful perspective on how community-based mental health strategies can foster resilience and equity.

Voices of Community Health Equity– A Conversation with Dr Donna Kiel

In this episode, host Sarah Lepo sits down with Dr. Donna Kiel, Ed.D., educator, researcher, and founder of the RISE Framework for Empathy, Equity, and Belonging. Drawing from a distinguished career as a principal, curriculum director, counselor, and teacher across both Catholic and public schools, Dr. Kiel offers deep insights into transformational leadership, emotional well-being in education, and the power of equity-centered learning environments.

With a passionate commitment to social justice, Dr. Kiel developed the RISE Program (Reflection, Inquiry, Self-Awareness, Empathy) to support school leaders and educators in creating inclusive, compassionate spaces that foster belonging for all. Through the lens of neuroscience, emotional intelligence, and leadership theory, she shares her mission to transform school cultures into communities of care.

This conversation offers rich perspective on how equity in education is essential to broader health equity efforts.

“The intersection of traumatic brain injury and intimate partner violence (IPV).”

"“Brain injury in itself produces a lot of symptoms that can be physical in nature, that range from headaches, nausea to mental fogginess- not being able to concentrate, not being able to remember. Unfortunately, what we know up until now is that individuals who are experiencing intimate partner violence or where brain injury might have occurred -they have these symptoms and they do not necessarily link the symptoms to the violence they are experiencing. They link them more to feelings of negative self-worth. Because of that, they do not necessarily get treatment for these conditions. The symptoms they have can impact their ability to obtain services, their ability to fill out forms, go to meetings, do what is needed to get all the social services that they require and it can impact their ability to even get healthcare services because of the inability to keep track of [multiple] appointments [with multiple healthcare providers].

…Survivors need to understand that these symptoms they are experiencing are real …. that they are health based, medical based, and they need to access services for. [Providers need to know that] it’s not because there is something wrong with the individual in terms of their willingness to participate in services that are being offered. It is because they can’t because of the symptoms they are experiencing because of the brain injury. Individuals working with survivors need to know how to work with them better and how to provide services in a way that is trauma informed and that also encompasses accommodations for the symptoms they are experiencing…That is really the end goal.”

This episode was produced by Sarah Lipo and features a powerful conversation with Dr. Dorothy Kozlowski and Dr. Sonya Crabtree-Nelson, co-founders and co-directors of the Illinois Coalition to Address Intimate Partner Violence Induced Brain Injury, alongside CCHE Co-Directors Dr. Raj Shah and Maria Joy Ferrera.

“Belonging for me reinforces my sense of worth and value in the collective”

In May 2024, we talked with Dr. Michele Morgan, Psychologist and Faculty member and DEI Ambassador within DePaul’s College of Science and Health. Dr. Morgan specializes in integrative and inquiry-based pedagogical approaches and collaborates with social networks to train community advocates and mental health service providers. She has coordinated studies on the efficacy of culturally adapted interventions in secondary schools and in collaboration with a large urban school district, Dr. Morgan evaluated the implementation of inclusion policy for educating students with diverse abilities. Her current research focuses on evaluating institutional practices associated with diversity, equity, and inclusion in university settings.

From Dr. Morgan:  [Belonging is] a subjective experience of connection and comfort in an expectation that you are going to get your needs met.Your identity [can serve] as a buffer to the broader discourse about who [gets to] belongs

The “other” has to speak or act like the absent standard to be heard. If one doesn’t they get micro-aggressed. This dynamic spills into institutions that undervalue diversity. Valuing diversity is tantamount to promoting a culture where equity in belonging takes place....its important to ensure that resources and supports are in place such that there could be equitable experience of connection

Opportunities for authentic connections are grounded in being all of yourself – in diverse and inclusive settings where un-masking can happen and where fitting in becomes un-warranted.

This interview was produced by Mariam Zaki, David Cline, and CCHE Co-Directors Raj Shah and Maria Joy Ferrera

“Redemption is everything” – Cobe Williams

In April 2024, Raj and Maria sat down with Josh Gryniewicz and Cobe Williams, Co-Authors of Interrupting Violence: One Man’s Journey to Heal the Streets and Redeem Himself, to discuss growing up surrounded by violence and the impact of people who challenge behaviors that are reinforced in communities where fighting is the norm. They discuss what redemption can mean, where healing can begin, and their violence prevention work together in changing the narrative to engage young people and keep them off the streets. Their book will be released on July 2, 2024. In conjunction with the release, they will conduct an advocacy tour across 27 cities nationwide from June 23 to July 23. Learn more here.

From the interview:

It’s the community themselves and those folks who are social influencers challenging social norms on a one-on-one basis, through group mediation and what is referred to as public education -trying to change the conversation to find other reinforcers that aren’t driving on violence as a validator. That is the most effective piece of the model itself..in the way that it disrupts social norms.

When I look back at my life and people have been traumatized, it’s like things you witnessed, what you have been exposed to, things you have been a part of ..it’s like man, it just sits there. You don’t talk about these things..there is so much we hold in. When we talk about mental health, talking about people getting traumatized, talking about trauma, everything under the sun…all of us really need to be healed. There is so much that took place in my life that I got no healing from…... we never looked at it like we need to talk to someone about this.

….The biggest thing I have learned in doing this violence prevention work is just listen. You don’t have to give me your idea, your thoughts, or your feedback. I just want somebody who can just listen. If I need anything, then I will just ask. But if you just listen, that helps me heal Cobe Williams

In March 2023, CCHE Co-Director Maria Ferrera talked with Dr. Dan Schober, Assistant Professor of DePaul’s MPH program and former Director of the Chicago Gun Violence Research Collaborative. They discuss the work he has done through CGVRC, ongoing and future projects to promote health equity in partnership with communities.

Above, Dan Schober with Executive Director Diane Latiker and the youth from community organization Kids off the Block after cleaning up a building they aim convert into a youth tech center.

As part of the Chicago Gun Violence Research Collaborative, Dan and Terry Williams facilitate a session with youth from Kids Off The Block in the Roseland neighborhood. They discuss research activism and survey results highlighting gun violence concerns.

Podcast Host: Maria J. Ferrera, CCHE Co-Director; Assistant Producer: Estefania Valentin

On January 13, 2023, an inaugural podcast interview was conducted with the founders of the Center for Community Health Equity who discuss its beginnings, ongoing work, and future directions. Margaret Storey, Professor of History and Associate Dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at DePaul University, interviews Raj Shah and Fernando De Maio, Co-Founders of the Center.

Raj Shah is Co-Director of CCHE, a geriatrician at Rush University Medical Center, and Associate Professor at the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center. Fernando De Maio is a Professor at DePaul’s Department of Sociology and Vice President of Health Equity Research and Data Use at the American Medical Association’s Center for Health Equity.

Podcast Host: Maria J. Ferrera, Co-Director of CCHE

Assistant Producer for Inaugural Interview: Allison Woodward

Learn more about CCHE at healthequitychicago.org and see this link to the article discussing the concept of Belonging referenced during the interview.

Past Interviews

“Can we build a coalition of mental health practitioners on behalf of the wellbeing of immigrant communities?”

Voices of Health Equity in Chicago
Interview No. 22
Topic: Immigrant mental health

Maria J. Ferrera, PhD, LCSW
Associate Professor
DePaul University, Department of Social Work

Voices of Community Health Equity

As an extension of our Voices of Community Health Equity Project, we welcome you to our CCHE Podcast.

Voices of Community Health Equity: A Conversation with Dr. Margaret M. Storey

Voices of Community Health Equity: A Conversation with Tarisha J. Washington

Voices of Community Health Equity: A Conversation with Maureen Benjamins

Voices of Community Health Equity: A Conversation with Dr. Ansuk Jeong

Voices of Community Health Equity– A Conversation with Dr Donna Kiel

“The intersection of traumatic brain injury and intimate partner violence (IPV).”

“Belonging for me reinforces my sense of worth and value in the collective”

“Redemption is everything” – Cobe Williams

Past Interviews

“Can we build a coalition of mental health practitioners on behalf of the wellbeing of immigrant communities?”

How do we support the network or the ecology of that family in ways that allow it to be mutually reinforcing, rather than to be in mortal conflict?

“Well, maybe research needs to change how it thinks about communities.”

“We ourselves are part of the solutions and not dependent on outsiders coming in and testing things out with us.”

“…it’s really helpful to have someone on your side.”

“…sound policy is for the people and by the people. Sound policy is policy that is very much informed by the community and its development is influenced by community advocacy.”

“Don’t be afraid to tell the truth out loud. Because, whatever, someone’s gotta say it, and it might as well be you.”

“…you’ve got to temper that optimism with some realism and know that things aren’t going to be fixed completely or right away. But every small bit that I see improve makes me glad that I’m doing this…”

“Equity is a problem of very significant disparities in opportunity…”

“We are always asking, ‘what’s wrong with the neighborhood? What are they doing wrong?’ But so few look at what the neighborhoods are really doing right.”

“Everyone should have the same opportunity to have good health and no one should suffer for reasons that are preventable.”

“…if we want to attack fear, there are certain policies and procedures that clinics and providers can implement to make their institutions more immigrant friendly or immigrant safe.”

“If we want to make our city healthier, I believe we need to get out of our comfort zones and see the world from the perspective of the neighborhoods”

“We understand health equity through empathy, so you have to put yourself in situations so you can feel what it’s like”

“What we’re finding is even sliding fee scales are a barrier to access…”

“The more that I engage in community research, the more I question our own biases in academia”

“We have really tried to give community a voice and partner with them around the questions we ask”

“If we treat human beings as victims first and foremost, we can stop further violence”

“…if I looked at the research through an anti-racist lens, a lot of things came into focus that had not been clear to me before”

“…these maps tell strong stories about racism, segregation and its outcomes in Chicago”

“I knew that social justice was going to be a part of whatever I did…”

“The farther you were from the trauma center, the more likely you were to die”