The 2019 Conference was amazing! Thanks to our amazing sponsors, presenters and participants.
2019 Conference Objectives:
|
2019 Conference Theme: Collective Impact Transforming Ideas into ActionThis year’s breakout sessions have been organized around the following:
|
Register for an Affordable Opportunity to Share Research, Network, and Learn More About Regional Health Equity
The Heartland Regional Health Equity Conference is currently one of the most affordable two-day conferences in the nation. Registration includes a continental breakfast, nationally recognized keynote speakers, continuing education units, and over a dozen workshops.
Register today to be part of this unique experience!
Register today to be part of this unique experience!
The vast majority of medical care in the United States is administered in a community based-setting. Yet, training for clinicians and clinician-researchers rarely concentrates in a community setting, and thus many important social underpinnings of disease go unnoticed and unaddressed.
With the advent of community-university partnerships such as the teaching health centers program, community based participatory research and clinical and translational research programs, stronger connections between community and university are being made possible. |
|
Still though, as social determinants of health are increasingly seen as the key to many chronic diseases, we feel that academic health institutions and local and regional community health entities stand to partner, communicate, and connect in many more radical ways.
This conference targets a vibrant audience of clinicians, academics, health service organizations, social workers, public health, regional and local foundations, community health workers and community leaders with interest and passion for social justice, health equity, community and patient advocacy.
|
As a cardiovascular outcomes researcher, this conference introduced me to wonderful folks in the community that have been tremendous partners as we further our patient-centered research on shared decision-making.
Carol Decker RN, PhD
FEATURED SPEAKERS

Dayna Bowen Matthew, JD PhD
"Health Care: The Hub of Racial Healing In America"
Dayna Bowen Matthew, JD, Ph.D., is the William L. Matheson and Robert M. Morgenthau Distinguished Professor of Law and the
F. Palmer Weber Research Professor of Civil Liberties and Human Rights at the University of Virginia School of Law. She holds an
appointment in the School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health Sciences. Matthew is a Non-Resident Senior Scholar at the
Brookings Institution, in the Economic Studies Department. Matthew worked as a Senior Advisor for the Environmental Protection
Agency Office of Civil Rights, and as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow, worked on Capitol Hill, helping to address public health disparities for disadvantaged communities. Professor Matthew cofounded the Colorado Health Equity Project a medical-legal partnership incubator; the Equity Institute Initiative, a community-engaged scholarship partnership; and she is the author of Just Medicine: A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care.
"Health Care: The Hub of Racial Healing In America"
Dayna Bowen Matthew, JD, Ph.D., is the William L. Matheson and Robert M. Morgenthau Distinguished Professor of Law and the
F. Palmer Weber Research Professor of Civil Liberties and Human Rights at the University of Virginia School of Law. She holds an
appointment in the School of Medicine’s Department of Public Health Sciences. Matthew is a Non-Resident Senior Scholar at the
Brookings Institution, in the Economic Studies Department. Matthew worked as a Senior Advisor for the Environmental Protection
Agency Office of Civil Rights, and as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow, worked on Capitol Hill, helping to address public health disparities for disadvantaged communities. Professor Matthew cofounded the Colorado Health Equity Project a medical-legal partnership incubator; the Equity Institute Initiative, a community-engaged scholarship partnership; and she is the author of Just Medicine: A Cure for Racial Inequality in American Health Care.

Nate Horwitz-Willis, DrPH, MPH, MPA
"On Being a Millennial Public Health Leader: Working across Generations to Achieve Health Equity Service Success "
Dr. Nate is an Assistant Professor of Public Health and Coordinator of Public Health Practice at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) University in Boston, MA. He also concurrently serves as a Public Health Officer for the Massachusetts Air National Guard at Joint Base Cape Cod. He is a recipient of the 2019 Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA) Dr. Alfred Frechette ‘Rising Star’ award for being a champion of health equity in Massachusetts. His most recent work, as the first Director of Public Health in Plymouth, Massachusetts, has involved his ability to instill notable equitable approaches that include helping to address the opioid crisis with law enforcement as the Public Health Advisor for the Plymouth County Outreach, creating and establishing Tobacco 21 policy change, and creating the first equitable climate change planning initiative with a local public health framework in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at the municipal level. His experience includes working in public health with and for community-based organizations, universities, and both federal, state, and municipal government with partnering and collaborative approaches. Dr. Nate also has interests in using technology to advance health equity in various public health domains to achieve optimal health outcomes to level the playing field for all of humanity through healthcare and public health partnerships. He is the founder of Horwitz-Willis Public Health Advising & Consulting, which has recently launched the Leliwop.org brand that focuses on creating and sustaining healthy spaces and places where we ‘learn, live, work, & play’ across the globe.
"On Being a Millennial Public Health Leader: Working across Generations to Achieve Health Equity Service Success "
Dr. Nate is an Assistant Professor of Public Health and Coordinator of Public Health Practice at the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences (MCPHS) University in Boston, MA. He also concurrently serves as a Public Health Officer for the Massachusetts Air National Guard at Joint Base Cape Cod. He is a recipient of the 2019 Massachusetts Public Health Association (MPHA) Dr. Alfred Frechette ‘Rising Star’ award for being a champion of health equity in Massachusetts. His most recent work, as the first Director of Public Health in Plymouth, Massachusetts, has involved his ability to instill notable equitable approaches that include helping to address the opioid crisis with law enforcement as the Public Health Advisor for the Plymouth County Outreach, creating and establishing Tobacco 21 policy change, and creating the first equitable climate change planning initiative with a local public health framework in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at the municipal level. His experience includes working in public health with and for community-based organizations, universities, and both federal, state, and municipal government with partnering and collaborative approaches. Dr. Nate also has interests in using technology to advance health equity in various public health domains to achieve optimal health outcomes to level the playing field for all of humanity through healthcare and public health partnerships. He is the founder of Horwitz-Willis Public Health Advising & Consulting, which has recently launched the Leliwop.org brand that focuses on creating and sustaining healthy spaces and places where we ‘learn, live, work, & play’ across the globe.