Regents’ Professor Julie Baldwin, director of the Northern Arizona University Center for Health Equity Research, was elected in June to serve on the board of directors of the Flinn Foundation.
In her role with the Center for Health Equity Research, Baldwin serves as the principal investigator for the center’s Southwest Health Equity Research Collaborative, which is increasing basic biomedical, clinical, and behavioral research at NAU to address health inequities among diverse populations of the southwestern United States.
The $21.4 million National Institutes of Health grant to create the collaborative in 2017 was among the largest ever received by NAU.
Baldwin specializes in community-based participatory research, HIV/AIDS and substance abuse prevention, and chronic disease prevention and works with diverse and rural populations, especially among American Indian/Alaska Native communities.
“I am so humbled and honored to have been invited to serve on the Flinn Foundation Board of Directors,” Baldwin said. “I had the privilege of attending my first board meeting and retreat in early June and learned so much about the amazing initiatives of the Flinn Foundation, especially in the areas of health and the Bioscience Roadmap. I look forward to contributing to the Board in terms of reviewing future health-related grants, potentially participating in the selection of Flinn Scholars, and advocating for programs that focus on achieving health equity in Arizona.”
Baldwin’s history with NAU dates back nearly 30 years. She served as a tenured faculty member at the Flagstaff-based university, with a joint appointment in the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, from 1994 to 2004. After a decade at the University of South Florida, Baldwin returned to NAU’s Department of Health Sciences in August 2015.
A citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Baldwin earned her doctorate in behavioral sciences and health education from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
“I look forward to learning from and working alongside our accomplished new board members, who will provide the broad expertise the Flinn Foundation board needs to maximize its effectiveness,” said Tammy McLeod, Ph.D., Flinn Foundation president, and CEO. “The institutional knowledge and experience of our longest-serving members, combined with the perspectives of our newest members, including our first university researcher and a member from northern Arizona, will benefit the Flinn Foundation’s work and the residents of Arizona.”
About the Flinn Foundation
The Flinn Foundation is a privately endowed, philanthropic grantmaking organization established in 1965 by Dr. Robert S. and Irene P. Flinn that awards grants and operates programs in four areas: the biosciences, the Flinn Scholars, arts and culture, and the Arizona Center for Civic Leadership. The foundation’s mission is to improve the quality of life in Arizona, to benefit future generations.
The foundation’s focus on health care and medical research stems from the career of Robert Flinn, a cardiologist who headed the departments of cardiology and electrocardiography at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Phoenix. He was chief of the medical staff at St. Joseph’s and Phoenix Memorial Hospital, president of both state and county medical societies, and co-founder and first president of the Arizona affiliate of the American Heart Association.