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THE COLLABORATIVE

COLLABORATIVE
yale health justice collaborative
yale health justice collaborative

The U.S. Health Justice Collaborative is an interprofessional student group that was created in 2015. The Collaborative is a loose network of students, medical residents, and New Haven community members, with representation across schools as diverse as medical, nursing, physicians associate, public health, law, business, forestry, and more. 

 

The Collaborative has three main goals:

 

COMMUNITY

Strengthen relationships between health professional students at Yale who are committed to domestic health equity. Connect students to events and other groups on campus with similar objectives. 

 

RADICAL LEARNING 

Deepen awareness about injustices that exist between patients and providers, between providers and other providers, and between healthcare institutions and the communities they serve. 

 

INFORMED ACTION 

Partner with New Haven community to understand and contribute to health equity efforts already occuring in the city. Lead activism at Yale's health professional schools surrounding health justice. 

 

If you are interested in joining the Collaborative, sign-up for the USHJ Collaborative listserv.

 

UPCOMING EVENTS

UPCOMING EVENTS

Sync the Health Justice Google calendar with yours for easy access to health justice events on campus. 

Pot Luck and Converesation: Radical Histories of Community-led healthcare

February 21, 2019

Hi everyone,


The U.S. Health Justice Collaborative will be hosting its first potluck of the semester, Radical Histories of Community-Led Healthcare, on Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m. at 111 Park St, Apt. 15G.

The main reading that will inform our conversations, linked below, sheds light on the struggles and successes of radical political activists and community organizers in the 1960s and 1970s to hold powerful urban medical centers accountable to the communities of color that they existed within and routinely exploited. Understanding these histories is particularly relevant given the impending primary care move to Long Wharf in New Haven.

You can find the primary reading here. 

Date and Time: February 21 at 7:30 p.m.

Where: 111 Park St, Apt. 15G.

Reproductive Justice Seminar

February 28, 2019

The US Health Justice Collaborative is collaborating with Healthy Start, Yale Family Planning, and Medical Students for Choice to bring in Monica Simpson, the Executive Director of SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Collective. She is a national leader in Reproductive Justice, has been awarded numerous human right's awards and was a panelist on the 2015 Women of the World Summit. 


Monica Simpson will lead a Reproductive Justice Seminar on Thursday February 28th from 12:00-3:00. Space is limited so be sure to register. https://goo.gl/forms/IrAZLHHQVRRYqeP43

 

If you cannot make the seminar don't worry- Monica Simpson will also be giving OBGYN Grand Rounds on Reproductive Justice at 4:00 in Brady auditorium.

Date and time: February 28th at 12:00-3:00 pm

Where: 333 Cedar St, Beaumont Room 221 SHML

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PAST EVENTS

PAST EVENTS

Dorothy Roberts: "Mistreating Health Inequities in the Genomic Age"

November 29, 2018

The U.S. Health Justice Collaborative and the Program for the Humanities in Medicine is pleased to welcome Dorothy Roberts, Professor of Law & Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Killing the Black Body and Fatal Invention, to speak at Yale School of Medicine. Professor Roberts is an internationally recognized scholar, public intellectual, and social justice advocate, and has been a leader in transforming thinking on reproductive health, child welfare, and bioethics. The title of Professor Roberts' talk is "Mistreating Health Inequities in the Genomic Age."

Date and time: November 29th at 5:30PM 

Location: TAC auditorium 

Pot-luck: Clinic or Classroom? Who do student runclinics really serve?

October 30, 2018

With about 140 people in attendance, we had a wonderful panel discussion utilizing HAVEN as our case study. Our audience members posed some critical points for discussion that we did not have time to fully unpack, so even if you were unable to attend, please join us for our follow up potluck . We will dive a bit deeper into these conversations over food and figure out some next steps to take action.

Date and time: October 30th from 6-7:30

Location: Cafe Med 

Clinic or Classroom: who do student-run free clinics really serve?

October 22, 2018

What's this item about? What makes it interesting? Write a catchy description to grab your audience's attention...

​On October 22nd, the U.S. Health Justice Collaborative is pleased to host a dinner and a conversation about student-run free clinics, using HAVEN as our case study. We will to bring together a diverse panel of students, doctors, and community partners together to see if we can answer some of the following questions:

  • Who does a student-run free clinic serve? 

  • Why are student-run free clinics so often exclusively advertised and spoken about by medical students as a place for them to grow and learn? 

  • How are some students' attitudes towards volunteering problematic?

 

We hope attendees will leave with a deeper understanding and critical eye about student-run free clinics and will continue these conversations in order to implement actionable, patient-focused change.

Date and time: Monday, October 22, 5 - 7pm

Location: Cohen Auditorium

Dinner will be provided!

Pathologizing Black Birth: The Personal and Political of Reproductive Justice

September 17, 2018

The U.S. Health Justice Collaborative (USHJC) and New Haven Healthy Start (NHHS) will host a conversation with Khiara Bridges, JD, PhD, author of Reproducing Race: An Ethnography of Pregnancy as a Site of Racialization. Dr. Bridges, a Professor of Law and Anthropology at Boston University, will speak about reproductive and racial justice within the U.S. healthcare system.

 

In recognition of Infant Mortality Awareness Month, Dr. Bridges’ scholarship will lift up the work of a national urban health initiative addressing black infant mortality for almost three decades, Healthy Start. NHHS, a program of the Community Foundation for a Greater New Haven, is one of one hundred Healthy Start programs across the country focusing on infant mortality and the elimination of racial and ethnic disparities in birth outcomes. NHHS will discuss their work in New Haven, the history of the initiative, and the particular challenges Black mothers face in receiving care throughout the reproductive life-course. 

Date and Time: September 17, 2018 6:00-8:00 PM

Location: Anlyan Center, 300 Cedar St.

First Do No Harm: Doctors & Sex Abuse

April 18, 2018

Doctors & Sex Abuse is the result of national investigation by the Atlanta Journal Constitution into sexual misconduct by physicians involving patients that reviewed more than 100,000 medical board orders relating to disciplinary action against doctors since 1999. The US Health Justice Collaborative has invited representatives from the investigation to the Yale School of Medicine in order to use their work to frame pivotal questions about weighing physician responsibility to their patients and their professional society. We hope that these questions will highlight opportunities for reform within medical education and medicine at large. 

Carrie Teegardin - is an award-winning investigative reporter at the Atlanta-Journal Constitution and lead writer for the Doctors & Sex Abuse investigative series. Ms. Teegardin is an alumna of Duke University and has been a member of the Atlanta-Journal constitution, covering the areas of science, business, and medicine, since 1993. 

Maria Zito - visited Dr. Raja Jagtiani with severe neck pain where he took her breasts from her sports bra and aggressively groped them. In October, Dr. Jagtiani pleaded guilty to criminal sexual contact after Ms. Zito, four other patients, and 3 employees accused him of touching them improperly.

Please use the following survey to confirm your attendance at the evening event by April 12th: 
To http://bit.ly/2E2KKv7
Dinner will be provided so an accurate count is crucial!

Date and Time: April 17, at 5:30-7:30

Location: Yale Child Study Center 

Paved with Good Intentions: White Saviorism and the Non-Profit Industrial Complex

March 28, 2018

On March 28th, 2018 from 6:30-8pm, the U.S. Health Justice Collaborative will host a panel event titled "Paved with Good Intentions: White Saviorism and the Non-Profit Industrial Complex." This event aims to explore themes of power, privilege, and financial incentive within the non-profit industry that inhibit the achievement of equity and structural reform in the United States.

 

Jordan Flaherty, award-winning journalist, producer, and author who has written extensively on white saviorism will speak at the event, alongside local New Haven leaders confronting these challenges in our community. In addition to raising awareness about these critical issues, the event aims to highlight strategies for dismantling white saviorism and supremacy in our work moving forward.

Panelists, co-sponsors, and more information can be found here.

​​

Location: Afro-American Cultural Center at Yale, 211 Park St

New Haven Primary Care Landscape

February 15, 2018

In case you haven't yet heard, Yale Primary Care, Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center, and Fair Haven Community Health Care are joining forces to create a “New Haven Primary Care Consortium.  This means great things for people living near one of these sites. Integrated care, sharing of electronic medical records to prevent duplicate testing, and one-stop shopping for primary care, mental health, and multi-specialty services. Sounds great! However, this plan involves moving all of YNHH's primary care out of the York Street and St. Raphael's locations all the way over to Long Wharf.  For patients living in West River, Edgewood, Westville, and the Dwight neighborhoods this means that their doctor will be moving out of their neighborhood to a location that is now a 20-55 minute bus ride and a 15-minute walk. This is a potentially insurmountable distance for many of these patients. The move will not only threaten their health but may also further crowd New Haven’s already crowded emergency departments.

 

On the same day that Yale New Haven Health (YNHH) announced that it received a $100,000 award from the American Hospital Association for “Excellence in Community Service,”  the West River Community Management Team held a meeting where neighborhood residents expressed grave concerns about being able to get to their doctors’ appointments once YNHH closes its primary care offices on the York Street and Saint Raphael campuses and reopens them at 150 Sargent Avenue in Long Wharf. The irony is striking: moving primary care doctors away from patients to an industrial district on the outskirts of town is not an excellent service for the community. 

 

At the meeting in West River, Cynthia Sparer, Senior Vice President, Operations and Executive Director for Women’s and Children’s services at YNHH, addressed this question of “Why Long Wharf?” She reported there was “no footprint” in Westville, West River, Dwight, or Edgewood to put the new primary care center. Something that seems not quite right. 

Date and time: Thursday, February 15 at 6pm 

Location: Cafe Med in Harkness Hall, 367 Cedar St. 

Drug Prices in the Spotlight: Why are Insulin Prices Rising and What Can Be Done?

February 17, 2018

Prices of prescription drugs in the United States have increased dramatically over the past decade. What happens when people who rely on medications for their health and well-being find they can no longer afford them?

This event uses insulin as a case study to examine drug pricing in the United States, discuss the impact of rising drug prices on patients with diabetes, and point the way to strategies to curb prices and improve accessibility.

Join patients, clinicians, lawyers, and advocates passionate about lowering prescription drug prices via courts, legislation, and other forms of advocacy - learn and contribute to help us tackle rising insulin prices.

This event is presented by the Global Health Justice Partnership, with co-sponsorship by the Yale US Health Justice Collaborative and the Yale Network for Global NCDs. This event is funded by the Oscar M. Ruebhausen Fund at Yale Law School. 

Refreshments and non-pizza dinner will be provided.

Where: Yale Law School, Room 127

When: Wednesday, February 7, 4:10pm - 6pm

Facebook event can be found here.

Personal x Political: End-of-Semester Dinner

December 11, 2017

The Collaborative had it's final gathering of the semester: Personal x Political. This event explored forms of student activism (which types are prioritized, which ones are not, and why) as well as started conversations about the oppression people may be subjected to when they're in spaces not intended for them, in other words, what it means to feel at home (or not feel at home) in an institution like Yale. We used two readings - Audre Lorde's "The Master's Tools Will Not Dismantle the Master's House" and Rob Rock and Nientara Anderson's recently published piece, "Medical Student Activism: Personal x Political x Institutional" to guide our discussion. 

Community Health Workers in New Haven

December 04, 2017

USHJ Collaborative and Health Equity Solutions joined together for an event to showcase the work of community health workers (CHWs) and primary healthcare models in the greater New Haven area. This event consisted of a panel of current CHWs who will share their stories from their fieldwork, a discussion geared towards key stakeholders and investors with Yale New Haven Hospital Systems on how community health can better be supported, and small breakout discussion groups to better learn about the community health model design, coordination, and stability. 

Ongoing: Work Days at Little Red Hen Garden

May 06, 2017

During the gardening months, USHJ collab members helped out at West River's Little Red Hen Community Garden (32 Mead St) to assist with this vibrant community effort. Activities included mulching, weeding, watering, etc. 

11:30am-1:30pm EVERY SATURDAY FROM MAY-OCTOBER

¡Palante! The Struggle Continues

November 10, 2017

The Yale US Health Justice Collaborative, Citywide Youth Coalition, and Yale Forestry's Environmental Media & Arts Student Interest Group welcomed Iris Morales, JD, community activist, attorney, educator, director, and author to New Haven for a series of events to be held across the city. A former member of the Young Lords Party, Morales has spent 30 year helping develop organizations dedicated to grassroots organizing and community empowerment, such as the Manhattan Neighborhood Network, the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, and the New Educational Opportunities Network.

Events included a book talk, film screening and discussion, and panel discussion. Iris Morales' visit will serve to bring the New Haven and Yale University community together for a series of events that discuss community organizing toward social justice from the perspective of one of the most influential organizations of the era.

Fix It: Healthcare at the Tipping Point

October 26, 2017

Dr. Liza Goldman Huertas (Physicians for a National Health Program), and Dr. Jason Abaluck (Yale School of Management) joined the U.S. Health Justice Collaborative for an evening of documentary screening and discussion. 

 

"Fix It: Healthcare at the Tipping Point" explores the rising cost of healthcare and proposes the single payer system as a viable, business-friendly solution. Sourcing voices of activists, health policy experts, economists, physicians, nurses, patients, and business and labor leaders, "Fix It" is a non-partisan, fact-driven case for major healthcare reform in the United States.

Toward a Just System: Primary Care, Population Health, & Economic Reform

September 13, 2017

Michael Fine, MD, joined us to speak about health economics in the age of health reform. Dr. Fine is currently working to build a population-based primary care and public health collaboration that will serve the entire region of Blackstone Valley and Central Falls, Rhode Island. 

Newhallville Community Walks

The USHJ Collaborative joined other neighborhood members from Newhallville and surrounding communities for a walk and conversation with future primary care providers. Organized in partnership with Yale SNMA/LMSA.

8:30am at Shelton Ave and Hazel Street

Cook, Dine and Discuss Issues of Food Justice, Food Security & Health

April 26, 2017

COOK, DINE AND DISCUSS ISSUES OF FOOD JUSTICE, FOOD SECURITY & HEALTH is a special workshop hosted monthly for different groups of graduate students and residents at Yale Health Professional Schools. The event is hosted by the Connecticut Mental Health Center (CHMC)'s Food and Nutrition Team in partnership with CitySeed. 

Guest speakers and cooking coaches include: 

  • Chef Anne Gallagher (Graduate of Natural Gourmet Institute, NYC)

  • Francine Blinten, MS (Nutritionist)

  • Amelia Reese Masterson, MPH (Executive Director, CitySeed)

  • Marydale DeBor, JD (Lecturer, Yale School of Medicine and Fresh Advantage, LLC)

Food Justice In Action

April 19, 2017

Health professions students, school administrators, and New Haven food justice advocates gathered together to discuss the food justice movement and current activities, as well as ways to incorporate better food and nutrition lessons into health professions curricula. 

Special Guests: 

  • Tagan Engel - Chef, Artist, Activist, Entrepreneur, Radio Show Executive Producer 

  • Absalom Massie - Author/Speaker/Health Justice activist

  • Dr. Michael Sernyak - CEO, Connecticut Mental Health Center 

  • Mary Lawrence - Owner, Well on Wheels (CT's premier vegan personal chef company) 

Town Hall on Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice

April 03, 2017

This event introduced Dean Darin Latimore and Lisette Martinez, new Chief Diversity Officers at Yale School of Medicine and Yale New Haven Health to the community. The downhill facilitated a community discussion on the issues that brought them to their new positions, the purpose of their respective roles in advancing the mission of promoting inclusion and equity in the health care community, and what each member of this community can do to aid in achieving this mission. 

Cook, Dine and Discuss Issues of Food Justice, Food Security & Health

March 29, 2017

COOK, DINE AND DISCUSS ISSUES OF FOOD JUSTICE, FOOD SECURITY & HEALTH is a special workshop hosted monthly for different groups of graduate students and residents at Yale Health Professional Schools. The event is hosted by the Connecticut Mental Health Center (CHMC)'s Food and Nutrition Team in partnership with CitySeed. 

 

Guest speakers and cooking coaches include: 

  • Chef Anne Gallagher (Graduate of Natural Gourmet Institute, NYC)

  • Francine Blinten, MS (Nutritionist)

  • Amelia Reese Masterson, MPH (Executive Director, CitySeed)

  • Marydale DeBor, JD (Lecturer, Yale School of Medicine and Fresh Advantage, LLC)

Medical Legal Partnerships Symposium

March 03, 2017

This one-day symposium aimed to build an academic agenda to enhance the practice of Medical Legal-Partnerships (MLPs), which integrate legal services into health care settings to enable more holistic care addressing social determinants of health, increase access to justice, and “treat” legal issues early avoiding crisis.

Mainly coordinated by the Yale Law School's Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy, the USHJ Collaborative was a co-sponsor of the event. 

Community Potluck: Medical Legal Partnerships

February 28, 2017

Special Guests:

  • Tamar Ezer, Executive Director of the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy

  • Alice Rosenthal, Attorney for the Center for Children’s Advocacy; Coordinator of the MLP at Yale-New Haven Hospital

  • Yale Law School Medical Legal Partnership Student Fellows

Reimagining Campus After Calhoun: History, Visuality, and Racialized Trauma

February 23, 2017

Special Guests:

  • Craig Wilder (Barton L. Weller Professor of History, MIT) 

  • Keyjo Lee (Ph.D. Candidate in Art History and African American Studies, Yale) 

  • Miraj Desai (Clinical Researcher Scientist in Psychiatry, Yale)

Co-sponsored by: the Program for the Humanities in Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine; the "History, Health and Humanities" (HHH) group; the Dean's Committee for Diversity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (CDISJ); the US Health Justice (USHJ) Collaborative.

Community Potluck: #ProtectOurPatients and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr Day

January 26, 2017

At this forum, students discussed the eight values offered in the "Beyond the Safety Pin" article and explored the values that drive our efforts in healthcare activism, advocacy, and care delivery. This forum was in the context of thousands of others across the country holding similar #ProtectOurPatients health forums in the weeks following President Trump's Inauguration Day. 

Reaffirming Medicine's Social Mission: Domestic Health Justice, Medical Education, and Student Activism

January 12, 2017

Special Presenters: Robert Rock and Tehreem Rehman

This talk chronicled the story of the USHJ Course from inception to the present day. The talk outlined the purpose of this initiative at the Yale Health Professional Schools, in New Haven, and in our country as it relates to the role of health care providers as advocates for health equity. 

Hosted by the Medical Student Council. 

Community Potluck: Medicaid Payment Reform

November 29, 2016

Community Potluck: Black Panther Health Activism

October 18, 2016

Special Guests:

  • Stacey Spell, Community Activist

  • Dr. Gerald Friedland, Former Physician in Boston Black Panthers Free Clinic

Colorblindness, Color Consciousness: Race in Medical Education, Research, and Practice

October 17, 2016

Special Guest: Jennifer Tsai, Brown University Alpert School of Medicine

A lecture exploring the sue of race as an essential, biological category in science research and critically examining its implications both for perpetuating bias in medical education and perpetuating disparities in health care. 

Cosponsored with: YSM Medical Student Council; History, Health & Humanities; Minority Organization for Retention & Expansion; Yale University Afro-American Cultural Center, YSM Office of Multicultural Affairs 

The Opioid Epidemic: Criminal Justice, Public Health, and the Changing Face of Addiction

October 04, 2016

Panelists:

  • Ece Tek, MD | Chief of Behavioral Health at the Cornell Scott Hill Health Center overseeing the South Central Rehabilitation Center  

  • David Fiellin, MD | Head of interdisciplinary team of leaders from the CT State government, Yale, and CT insurers assigned by Gov. Malloy to address the Opioid overdose epidemic in the state.

  • Daryl McGraw | Head of Community Recovery and peer support for the CT Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services

  • Matt Curtis | Policy Director, Vocal New York

Community Potluck: 2016-2017 Kick-Off!

September 13, 2016

Students gathered to kick-off the new school year and brainstorm activities the USHJ Collaborative would pursue in the coming semester. 

Community Potluck: History of Health Professional Student Activism

April 12, 2016

Special Guests:

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