PINE, the Alumni Magazine of Northern Arizona University has featured the Center for Health Equity Research in the Fall 2017 edition. The article reflects the center’s objective of addressing health disparities unique to Arizona’s rural and minority populations through research. This research emphasizes factors that contribute to health inequities like social, economic, and cultural factors. Public health based projects established during the center’s first year include an assessment of well-being in northern Arizona, a study of Arizona’s Health Start… Read more
Julie Baldwin
CHER part of team tackling children’s oral health
CHER Director, Julie Baldwin, is part of an interdisciplinary team of researchers awarded a grant from the Arizona Biomedical Research Commission to investigate why Arizona preschoolers suffer from tooth decay at a much higher rate than the national average. Rural northern Arizona, in particular, has a troublingly high rate of tooth decay among preschoolers aged 2 to 5 years. The team will collaborate with SMART Smiles and First Things First to sequence the genomes of bacteria collected from plaque samples… Read more
Social Support, Education Associated with Fewer Teen Pregnancies
New Research shows teenagers are less likely to become parents before the age of 18 if they have strong family and community ties. CHER Director Julie Baldwin, coauthor of this study, says, “Feeling close to others in school, living in a two-parent home, and participation in volunteering or community service were all associated with a reduced chance of pregnancy.” These social factors are often overlooked in programs designed to prevent teen pregnancy.
CHER’s founding director, Dr. Julie Baldwin
CHER’s founding director, Dr. Julie Baldwin, has a lifelong commitment to serving diverse communities and to advocating for health promotion programs for children, adolescents, and families. She is an enrolled member of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma.
Dr. Baldwin spent 10 years at NAU (1994 – 2004) as a tenured faculty member with a joint appointment in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health at the University of Arizona, and worked with other NAU faculty on a project… Read more