Center for Health Equity Research Partners with Community Coalition to Address Health Literacy:

The university’s Michael Reese Foundation Center for Health Equity Research (CHER) is partnering with the Live Well Lake County (LWLC) Access to Care Action Teams to collect information on the health needs in Lake County, Illinois.

“The team is wanting to understand the health education needs of community members. What’s their lived experience in obtaining health-related information?”

Four Chicago Medical School students spent their summer designing a survey, as well as other methods of data gathering, which will be available in English and Spanish. Results will help inform the development of a community health curriculum, with the goal of improving health literacy by 10%.

The Live Well Lake County Network brings together over 50 community organizations and community members to implement the 2022–26 Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP). CHIP is focusing on three priority areas for action: education, housing and access to care.

CHER Founding Director Amanda M. Simanek, PhD, MPH, and CHER Community Engagement Core Lead Yvette D. Castañeda, PhD, MPH, MBA, are members of LWLC’s Access to Care and Education action teams. The teams are led by representatives from groups including the Healthcare Foundation of Northern Lake County, the Waukegan Public Library and invested community members.

“The team is wanting to understand the health education needs of community members,” Dr. Simanek said. “What’s their lived experience in obtaining health-related information? How do they get it? Do they use WhatsApp or go to their doctor or to the library?”

A parallel survey will inventory existing health education services provided by community-facing organizations. �鶹Ӱ�� students may have the opportunity to participate in future phases of the project, including data collection and analysis or dissemination along with survey design, Dr. Simanek noted. Students will present a poster on the process this fall.

Dr. Darey Returns to Alma Mater on �鶹Ӱ�� Board:

Elmhurst Hospital president and Chicago Medical School alum Kimberley Darey, MD ’04, was elected in May to the �鶹Ӱ�� Board of Trustees.

Dr. Darey has been with Elmhurst Hospital since 2010, with roles that have included chair of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council and Health Equity Taskforce. She has also been a member of the Elmhurst Hospital Foundation Board, the Elmhurst Outpatient Surgery Center Board and the Board of Managers for Illinois Health Partners. Prior to her role as president, she served as the hospital’s medical director of obstetrics and gynecology.

After starting her career as a chemist working in the pharmaceutical industry following graduation from Xavier University of Louisiana as a chemistry major, Dr. Darey entered CMS. She completed an OB/GYN residency at St. Joseph Hospital in Chicago before going into private practice.

Among Dr. Darey’s many awards and honors are Crain’s Chicago Business’ 2022 Most Notable Executives of Color in Healthcare, and the CMS 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award for Service.

Five-Year Study of Severe Lung Infections Earns NIH Grant:

Cancer Cell Biology, Immunology, and Infection professor of microbiology and immunology Fabio Re, PhD, was awarded a five-year, $2.57 million grant from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases this spring to investigate the role of a key inflammatory response in lung bacterial infections such as sepsis.

“These studies will increase our understanding of the mechanisms that regulate inflammation not only during infection but also in a number of pathologies caused by sterile inflammation.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 1.7 million adults in the United States develop sepsis annually — the overwhelming or impaired whole-body immune response to an infection or injury — and nearly 270,000 die as a result. Sepsis can progress rapidly, with the patient spiraling toward septic shock with multiple organ failure. It is caused by bacterial and viral infections that include COVID-19.

“These studies will increase our understanding of the mechanisms that regulate inflammation not only during infection but also in a number of pathologies caused by sterile inflammation,” Dr. Re said. “Our work will potentially facilitate development of therapeutic interventions that encourage Caspase-11-dependent protective responses but inhibit the deleterious ones.”

Judy Masterson is a staff writer with �鶹Ӱ��’s Division of Marketing and Brand Management.