2021 MHDI Annual Report

20 

21 

ANNUAL 

REPORT

table of 

contents

01 - 02 

03 - 06 

MESSAGE FROM 

THE TEAM 

OUR TEAM 

07 - 10 

11 - 15 

OUR MISSION 

ENGAGEMENT 

16 - 23 

24 - 25 

RESEARCH 

COMMUNITY 

IMPACT

MESSAGE FROM 

THE TEAM 

2021 MHDI ANNUAL REPORT 4

A Letter From the Directors: 

Much like 2020, this year was a challenge for so many organizations and MHDI was no exception. We recognize the 

heartbreak and difficulties faced by the communities we serve. The COVID-19 pandemic and its spiderweb of related 

effects continue to remind us of all the manifold ways health equity remains an elusive goal. Within that context, our 

incredible staff, faculty, and students have continued to rise to meet these challenges through the great work that 

they do. We have continued to support community-based health research needs, implement new ways of improving 

health equity, and train the next generation of health equity scholars. As Co-Directors to our MHDI members, we see 

your contributions and we thank you for all of this hard work under such trying circumstances. This report outlines 

all of the great things that you have done, but we know no summary can fully articulate the emotional, physical, and 

mental labor you have given to our campus, city, state, and global communities. 

The past year also brought enormous opportunities. MHDI continues to grow, having added two new core faculty 

members who expand our expertise and enrich existing areas of focus. We welcome Ciera Kirkpatrick from Journal 

and Mass Communications, and Katie Edwards from the Center for Children, Youth, Families, and Schools. We have 

also seen the release of UNL’s Grand Challenges, which we have actively helped to shape. Trey helped lead writing 

for the focus of the Health Equity aim and shape its implementation and one of our Leadership Council members, 

Jordan Soliz helped spearhead and write the Anti-Racism and and Racial Equity theme. The Grand Challenges 

structure will bring new opportunities that can help expand the outlines of MHDI’s footprint. We look forward to 

helping brainstorm and coordinate proposals. We also hope to leverage this as an opportunity for transformational 

change for MHDI and health equity research overall at UNL. 

We are incredibly well positioned to take the “next step” with the Grand Challenges because of all of the great work 

done by our faculty to deepen our ties within the community. This work is reflected in the number of grants submitted 

and awarded. It was only three years ago that our team birthed the Rural Drug Addiction Research Center, which 

now operates independently. Reflecting on that journey, we look forward to creating more opportunities to address 

health equity of similar magnitude, whether through the Grand Challenges or other avenues. To support this, we will 

be inviting health equity leaders to visit MHDI to help us continue evolving our roadmap to success. Similarly, we will 

visit other centers to further clarify our vision of the eventual center we want to become. We have full confidence in 

our ability to reach these goals because of the wonderful team we have behind us. 

Sincerely, 

Trey Andrews, PhD 

Rick Bevins, PhD 

MHDI Co-Directors 


OUR TEAM

LEADERSHIP TEAM 

MHDI is directed by Dr. Rick Bevins and Dr. Trey Andrews, is coordinated by Kim Gocchi Carrasco, and draws on 

support from Devan Crawford for grant support, Kali Patterson for administrative and event support, and Halley 

Horne for communications support. Over the past year and a half, the MHDI Leadership Team has enacted several 

structural changes to MHDI to enhance its position and clarify its mission. Some of these activities have taken place 

sporadically in the past, but the new structure is intended to ensure follow through and capacity building so that 

MHDI may plan ambitiously for its future. You can read more about these structural changes in the subsections on 

the following pages. 

RICK BEVINS 

Founder & Director 

TREY ANDREWS 

Co-Director 

KIM GOCCHI CARRASCO 

Coordinator 

DEVAN CRAWFORD 

Grant Support 

KALI PATTERSON 

Administrative Coordinator 

HALLEY HORNE 

Communications Assistant 


LEADERSHIP COUNCIL 

In 2020, the MHDI formed a new Leadership Council with seven area leaders based around areas of expertise for 

MHDI and UNL health equity research capacity. The addition of a Leadership Council is an effort to make MHDI 

more representative and to ensure that its members have a voice in its planning. This includes that we have 

now identified that each research area coordinator will rotate years in which they are responsible for identifying 

and approaching external speakers. They will also directly contribute to conference themes so that speakers for 

conferences may be identified early. Meet our new Research Area Leaders below! 

ANGELA PALMER- 

WACKERLY 

Associate Professor, Communication 

Studies, Rural Health Research 

Coordinator 

KATHRYN HOLLAND 

Assistant Professor, Psychology & 

Women & Gender Studies, Sexual & 

Gender Minority Health 

Research Coordinator 

BILAL KHAN 

Professor, Sociology & Computer 

Science, Network Science & Hard 

to Reach Populations Research 

Coordinator 

JULIE TIPPENS 

Assistant Professor, Child, Youth & 

Family Studies, Immigrant & Refugee 

Health Research Coordinator 

VIRGINIA CHAIDEZ 

Associate Professor, Nutrition & 

Health Sciences, Latinx Health Research 

Coordinator 

JORDAN SOLIZ 

Professor, Communication Studies, 

Racism & Discrimination 

Research Coordinator 

TIERNEY LORENZ 

Assistant Professor, Psychology, Stress 

& Mental Health Research Coordinator 


MHDI CORE FACULTY 

The goal of the MHDI is to actively engage in research focused on increasing health equity and reducing disparities 

among historically excluded, underserved and ethnic minority populations in the Nebraska and beyond. MHDI’s work 

also focuses on creating a community of scholars, training the next generation of health researchers, and partnering 

with the community to ensure that available knowledge reaches the front line of practice. MHDI seeks to be the 

bridge between community needs and the scientific community worldwide. To view a list of our current Core Faculty 

Members, visit our website, here. 

NU SYSTEM LIAISONS 

In order to promote collaboration between NU campuses, Andrews identified two intercampus liaisons who have 

actively participated in MHDI events. Their participation has only increased since then, with now multiple UNK 

affiliates regularly participating in our workshops, collaborating on research products, and attending MHDI events. 

They are: Athena Ramos, Assistant Professor, Center for Reducing Health Disparities (UNO and UNMC Liaison) and 

Sharon Obasi, Associate Professor, Family Science (UNK Liaison) 

HEALTH EQUITY BOARD OF ADVISORS 

This effort is a heavily revamped version of prior efforts to gather community expertise regarding health equity 

challenges in Nebraska. We included several key constituents who represent organizations that address health 

equity. The HEBOA is vital to the development of the MHDI research agenda and leadership. The board provides 

guidance and strategic input on how the MHDI can best meet the needs of communities that they serve. They are: 

A) Josie Rodriguez, Administrator, NE DHHS Office of 

Health Disparities and Health Equity 

B) Roméo Guerra, Director, El Centro de las Américas 

C) Nancy Tellez, Director, Crete Community Assistance 

(in the Mayor’s Office) 

D) John Goodwin, Director, Malone Community Center 

E) Sheila Dorsey Vinton, Director, Asian Cultural and 

Community Center 

F) Abby Swatsworth, Executive Director, OutNebraska 


OUR 

MISSION 


OUR MISSION 

The mission of MHDI is: “Linking science, practice, policy, and training to promote health equity among racial, ethnic, 

minoritized and historically excluded communities in Nebraska.” MHDI’s mission and vision for the future have guided 

and structured the events and activities of the past year. We have made numerous efforts to promote and produce 

research, education, training, and outreach in Nebraska. In this regard, MHDI helps to ensure that UNL is a key part of 

UNL’s effort to improve health equity. This annual report provides a summary of MHDI activities and accomplishments 

during fiscal year 2020-2021, as well as a summary of the program activities that align with MHDI’s four objectives 

outlined below. 

1. To create and maintain a community of like-minded scholars capable of engaging each other in the pursuit 

of high-level research on minority health and health disparities, 

2. To increase the participation of minority scholars at all levels (faculty, graduate students, and undergraduates) 

in health-related research, 

3. To train the next generation of minority health scholars at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral 

levels, and 

4. Support communities and organizations seeking to build their own capacity to address minority health 

disparities. 

01 

Create Community of 

Minority Health Scholars 

02 

Increase All Levels of 

Health Related Research 

04 

Support Community 

Minority Health Work 

03 

Train Next Generation of 

Minority Health Scholars 


THE HISTORY 

Nine years ago, UNL faculty and staff gathered to address the critical need for health equity research in Nebraska 

and established the Minority Health Disparities Initiative (MHDI). Since 2012, MHDI has been funded by the University 

of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) Office of Research and Economic Development (ORED) as well as the Tobacco Settlement 

Funds. From 2014 to 2020, MHDI was led by Kirk Dombrowski. During this time, MHDI moved from simply a concept to 

an emerging hub of highly productive health equity scholars. As one potent example, the majority of faculty and staff 

that now form the Rural Drug Addiction Research (RDAR) Center were drawn from MHDI. Following Dr. Dombrowski’s 

departure, MHDI entered its next phase under the leadership of Rick Bevins and Trey Andrews as Co-Directors. This 

new era, spanning only approximately 18 months, has resulted in incredible reinvigoration of MHDI with a renewed 

focus on pressing health equity issues and community engagement. It has also seen MHDI offer substantial leadership 

in the identification and development of the recently announced Health Equity and Anti-Racism Grand Challenges. 

The team is well-positioned to chart a long-term course for replicating its success with the RDAR Center and playing 

a central role in the fulfilment of the Health Equity and Anti-racism Grand Challenges. Part of the reason for continued 

success during the recent time of change is MHDI’s consistency among its staff. 

Since its inception, MHDI’s grant portfolio related to minority health and health equity at the University of Nebraska 

has grown dramatically. Over the past 9 years, the MHDI Leadership Team, Core Faculty members, and staff have 

submitted over 325 grant proposals totalling over $221,000,000. 

9 Years 

325 Grant Proposals 

221 Million Dollars 

MHDI annually facilitates the development of tens of millions of dollars in applications, and millions of dollars in awards 

from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Our method here takes advantage of oneon-one 

faculty mentoring on the grant writing and project planning process. This allows our team to provide expertise 

to both new and experienced faculty. Steady, year-on-year increases have shown that this method works—and more 

so, it has shown faculty that UNL remains dedicated to providing the support necessary for them to be successful 

researchers who make lasting differences in our world. This helps build community, dedication, and a sense of 

ownership by our faculty affiliates. For many of them, MHDI is as much a campus home as their own departments. A 

sentiment that was recently reflected by many faculty who expressed that if not for MHDI, they would not be at UNL. 

Over the next year, we look forward to continuing each of these trends, but more importantly, to continuing the 

process of recharting the course of MHDI toward work with measurable health equity impacts in our communities, 

state, and beyond. We look forward to hosting programmatic activities that strengthen our capacity for research, 


engagement, and community impact to remain competitive for funding at the institutional, state, and national levels. 

The University of Nebraska (NU) continues to hire promising young researchers whose desire for meaningful impact 

can find strength in our support. We will continue to support communities and organizations eager to build their own 

capacity to address health equity and minority health. And finally, we will continue our goal of increasing the diversity 

of the health research community by seeking out and finding the next generation of scholars. We envision these as 

the foundational building blocks that are necessary for our progression toward achieving an NIH center grant and 

Board of Regents designation as a research center. 

MHDI Winter Retreat 2014 


ENGAGEMENT

ENGAGEMENT 

One of the objectives of MHDI is to create a community of like-minded scholars capable of engaging each other in the 

pursuit of high-level research on minority health and health disparities. To this end, the MHDI leadership team hosts 

programmatic events throughout the year to diversify and maximize the types and number of partners with whom we 

collaborate with locally, regionally, and nationally. In the next section, we’ll explore the ways that MHDI is working to 

strengthen the collective voice, leadership, and capacity to move toward a healthier and more equitable future. 

MHDI Annual Conference 

Each year, MHDI holds a conference that brings together organizations, researchers, and thinkers in Nebraska and 

beyond to share strategies and resources for accelerating the shift in community engagement, clinical enterprises, 

and research toward health equity. On March 12, 2020, in response to the events surrounding the COVID-19 

pandemic and in line with the UNL chancellor’s message on that day, MHDI announced the postponement of its 2020 

conference. While ultimately transitioning to a fully digital conference, MHDI was able to foster a new and exciting 

partnership with the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services’ (NE DHHS) Office of Health Disparities 

and Health Equity (OHDHE). This collaboration between MHDI and OHDHE led to the formation of the first Nebraska 

Conference on Health Equity (NECHE), with the 2021 events focusing broadly on the social determinants of health at 

the intersection of COVID-19. The importance of this shift should not be understated as it puts us in regular and close 

proximity to our state government counterparts with regular conversations regarding the most pressing health equity 

issues in Nebraska. We are better positioned to identify additional sources of funding and create deeper engagement 

on policy and research priorities. It also broadens the appeal of our conference beyond its typical reach, which was 

already substantial for its size and scope. 

For the inaugural conference, nearly 400 community leaders and advocates as well as public health researchers and 

practitioners virtually came together on April 22 and 23, 2021. Alongside OHDHE, MHDI was humbled to include in its 

conference programming a wider breadth of stakeholders and collaborators such as the Great Plains Tribal Chairman 

Board and members of the Nebraska Ponca and Winnebago Tribes, the Asian Community and Cultural Center, the 

University of Nebraska Medical Center, several offices from NE DHHS, as well as regional and tribal public health 

departments, among a collective of other Nebraska community organizations. The 2021 conference, though virtual, 

reinforced and showcased that this diversity of backgrounds and perspectives helps MHDI and its partners to better 

understand and address health equity issues that Nebraskans currently face. 

MHDI was honored to co-host keynote speakers Dr. Donald Warne of the University of North Dakota, Lori Seibel, 

MPH, of the Community Health Endowment of Lincoln (CHE), Dr. Andrea Marpillero-Colomina of the New School, 

and Dr. Marco Barker of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Warne is the associate dean of diversity, equity, and 

inclusion as well as the director of the Indians into Medicine (INMED) and Master of Public Health Programs at the 

University of North Dakota. In this capacity and as a member of the Ogalala Lakota Tribe coming from a long line of 

traditional healers and medicine men, he spoke to our conference audience on effects to health equity when trauma 

remains unresolved. Lori Seibel, President and CEO of CHE, presented the “Place Matters 3.0” report outlining the 

research on how where we live, play, and work contributes to our health and well-being. She demonstrated that some 

of the most impactful facets of why place matters include policy implementation and community-wide projects, but 

that there continues to be dimensions of well-being to uncover and research. A Faculty Fellow at the Urban Systems 

Lab in New York, Dr. Andrea Marpillero-Colomina connected to conference attendees with the Inclusive Healthy 

Places Framework. A collaboration with the Gehl Institute, this framework provides a basis from which planners and 

policymakers might measure and implement health and inclusivity hand in hand. Our core presentations closed with 

UNL’s very own Vice Chancellor for Diversity and Inclusion, Dr. Marco Barker, who spoke of the significant effect that 

critical, institutional leadership has on health equity – especially where it concerns educational pipelines, training, 

and retention. 


2021 NECHE KEYNOTE SPEAKERS 

Dr. Andrea Marpillero-Colomina Dr. Donald Warne Lori Seibel, MPH Dr. Marco Barker 

Throughout both days, attendees were also able to join numerous, thematic breakout sessions which connected 

them to community and organizational leaders as well as researchers in the field. The two days finished with an 

expansive panel discussion between institutional researchers and Nebraska community members on the COVID-19 

pandemic and its effects on their practice and research as well as their lives and social connections. In tandem with 

the keynote presentations, the breakout and panel sessions provided space for our audience and speakers to survey 

in greater depth some, if not all, of the social determinants of health. With well over 300 participants in attendance, 

the 2021 Nebraska Conference on Health Equity brought to the forefront persisting and new health inequities as 

viewed through various determinants and by representative voices from across Nebraska and the Midwest. Towards 

the end of the conference, the hosts asked attendees to provide feedback on the activities they participated in. It is 

with pride that we report 97% of participants who attended a breakout session found said activity to be very valuable 

or somewhat valuable. Resoundingly, 100% noted that it was either very valuable (95%) or somewhat valuable (5%) to 

have MHDI and OHDHE jointly host this conference. 

Our evaluations also provided us with helpful feedback on how we might improve future iterations of this conference. 

This included interest in continuing to host the event across multiple days and via a virtual platform, the desire to 

build from what was learned at previous gatherings, and continued inclusion of perspectives from stakeholders that 

may be outside of academia and public health professionals. We will build on the success of this combined event to 

continue collaborating with OHDHE for future conferences, expanding MHDI’s footprint across the state. 

MHDI Health Equity Speaker Series 

Over the past year, MHDI coordinated several presentations as part of its Health Equity Speaker Series. Though the 

series continued in an entirely digitized format throughout 2020-2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, MHDI brought 

speakers to UNL’s campus virtually to consult with its academic community and provide public talks on minority health 

and health equity-related topics. To help coordinate across previous versions of the Speaker Series that separately 

focused on internal and external speakers, we have now combined the advertising, promotional, and coordination 

efforts. For this reason, this series is now referred to as the MHDI Health Equity Speakers Series. We still budget and 

plan for the same number of external speakers as prior years, however. 


On October 14, 2020, the initiative hosted Dr. Carolette Norwood, Associate Professor in the 

Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and affiliate faculty in the Department 

of Sociology at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Norwood presented “The Politic of Spatial 

Confinement: Jim Crow Geographies, Sexual and Reproductive Health Disparities, and Housing 

Insecurity from the Progressive Era to the 21st Century.” Dr. Norwood’s presentation reached an 

audience of nearly 40 attendees including staff, faculty/students, and community members and 

organizers from regional and national organizations and institutions. 

On March 30, 2021, Dr. Tierney Lorenz, Assistant Professor in the 

Department of Psychology, and UNL Psychology undergraduate 

student Sophia Sánchez presented “Barriers to Sexual Health 

Communication in Young People.” Their research examines the 

interaction between women’s mental, physical, and sexual health. 

The Women, Immunity, and Sexual Health (WISH) Lab investigates the 

ways that sexual behavior impact women’s immune and endocrine 

function, as well as ways to help women with mental and/or physical 

health conditions have happy, healthy sexual lives. 

In May, MHDI hosted Dr. Monnica Williams, Canada Research Chair for Mental Health Disparities 

at the University of Ottawa’s School of Psychology. Dr. Williams presented a highly attended 

talk, met with UNL faculty, and engaged in workshops with students, faculty, and staff alike. 

On the 20th, Dr. Williams addressed an audience of nearly 200 attendees in her presentation 

“Racial Microaggressions in Academic Spaces: Scope and Impact.” This – alongside leading 

workshops on “Creating an Inclusive Academic Environment for People of Color” – provided 

space for our colleagues to both engage in conversations about racism’s continual impact 

on academia and health equity as well as exemplify the interest and necessity of such 

programming and discussions on campus. 

On June 22, 2021, MHDI hosted a presentation by Dr. Katie Edwards on “Preventing Sexual 

and Dating Violence Among LGBTQ+ Youth Using Community Engaged-Approaches.” In 

addition to being a member of MHDI’s Core Faculty, Dr. Edwards is an associate professor in 

the Department of Educational Psychology and the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, 

Youth, Families, and Schools at UNL. Additionally, she is the director of the Interpersonal 

Violence Research Laboratory at UNL. Dr. Edward’s talk was robust with 71 attendees present 

throughout the event. Audience members included staff, faculty/students, and community 

members and organizers from UNL as well as from local organizations and institutions from 

the surrounding Midwest region. 

MHDI Conversation Series 

As with our events, MHDI continued to host our “Conversation Series” virtually. Our Conversations are informal 

meetings led local health equity experts who provide an overview of ongoing research and/or topical discussions 

that relate to a range of MHDI affiliates and community members, alike. This includes bringing to light research and 

work by the series’ audience on shared topics of interest. The latter serves two purposes, 1) the free exchange of 

health equity research and work “in process” that can markedly improve the scope and impact of existing projects 

and 2) the discovery of commonalities during these events which may lead to future collaborations as researchers 

and organizers discover the delicate match of complementary skills and interests. In the two Conversations hosted 

this year, we focused on the latter as we sought to maintain our community relations. Both were led by community 

partners of MHDI. 


The first conversation was facilitated by Sheila Dorsey Vinton, executive director and CEO of the Asian Community 

and Cultural Center. Dorsey Vinton gave a brief overview of how recent outbreaks and the events surrounding 

COVID-19 had affected the immigrant and refugee populations in Nebraska. She then invited participants to discuss 

the challenges and opportunities in addressing the pandemic and how its effects on populations such as these will 

continue into the foreseeable future. On a similar topic, we held a follow-up conversation led by Josie Rodriguez, 

Administrator of NE DHHS’ Office of Health Disparities and Health Equity. At this event, Rodriguez focused on 

the broad inequities and effects that the COVID-19 pandemic had as it pertained to minoritized and underserved 

populations throughout Nebraska. In the open discussion, the audience conversed and strategized on the efforts 

made by the state’s DHHS to mitigate and monitor these effects with particular interest in connection research data 

to new and evolving health inequities. 

MHDI LEADERSHIP RETREAT 

As part of the process of elaborating a vision for MHDI’s future success and expansion, Andrews led the creation 

of an entirely new MHDI leadership retreat focused on evaluating past processes, retooling these processes, and 

creating 1-, 5-, and 10-year visions for the organization. This retreat was held in July of 2020. Andrews led the 

leadership team through exercises designed to outline processes for how to achieve these goals. Though the 

meeting focused primarily on the creation of a specific vision for the future and elaboration of concrete plans to 

achieve this future, other procedures were also revamped and remain in place. These revisions were largely led 

by Andrews in an effort to make MHDI more representative and to ensure that its members have a voice in its 

planning. This includes that we have now identified that each research area coordinator as part of the Leadership 

Council will rotate years in which they are responsible for identifying and approaching external speakers. They 

will also directly contribute to conference themes so that speakers for conferences may be identified early. It was 

also determined that in addition to the annual meeting, a winter break “check in” would take place as a means of 

assessing mid-semester goals and planning. This meeting also occurred in December of 2020. Finally, the council 

retreat established that the retreat would be held annually to conduct planning for the upcoming year, including 

strategies for enhancing collaboration. 


RESEARCH

RESEARCH 

The goal of the MHDI is to actively engage in research focused on increasing health equity and reducing disparities 

among historically excluded and minoritized and historically excluded populations in the Nebraska and beyond. 

MHDI’s work also focuses on creating a community of scholars, training the next generation of health researchers, 

and partnering with the community to ensure that available knowledge reaches the front line of practice. MHDI seeks 

to be the bridge between community needs and the scientific community worldwide. 

MHDI is a home and resource platform for faculty, staff, and students from over ten different departments and colleges, 

and across UNL. Through the recent formation of intercampus Liaisons (see Our Team section), MHDI has expanded 

its footprint, linking UNL researchers with others across the NU system at the UNK, and UNMC campuses (visit our 

website for a current list of members). They advance scientific research to better understand and improve health 

outcomes of minoritized populations. Their research, teaching, scholarship, and service contribute to meaningful 

change in our state and in communities around the world. 

MHDI approaches this goal in two primary ways: first, we aim to be a resource in developing and submitting extramural 

funding focused on health equity. In fiscal year 2020-2021, MHDI submitted over 30 grant proposals with total direct 

costs of over $58,000,000 and our current awards total over $30,000,000 in direct costs (see Appendix B). This 

represents one of MHDI’s most significant accomplishments and our most successful year for proposal submissions 

and awards. MHDI continues to produce an exceedingly high return on investment. Second, we provide a unique 

space for minority health and health disparities programming that allows our faculty to connect with “on the ground” 

community organizations and leaders in these research fields. These opportunities are intended to foster future 

collaborations and enhance learning opportunities for faculty, students, and the university community. Efforts under 

each umbrella are listed below. Third, we have built robust systems for promoting collaboration and community 

among UNL’s existing health equity scholars. These three aims each support one another and our success over the 

past year is due in no small part to creatively maintaining and extending the second and third aims. For this reason, 

we are well-positioned to continue a high rate of extramural funding. 

In fiscal year 2020-2021, MHDI submitted over 30 grant proposals with total 

direct costs of over $58,000,000 and our current awards total over $30,000,000 

in direct costs 

To effectively and flexibly support faculty development, MHDI staff call upon their various strengths in project 

management, mentor-ship, as well as the development of extramural funding proposals. Consequentially, the 

importance and utilization of the initiative’s combined areas of developmental expertise can be seen through its 

submissions and award totals. Since its inception, MHDI has been particularly notable for its extramural awards, the 

majority of which have been led by or included junior faculty. This also includes the efforts by Kim Gocchi Carrasco 

in maintaining community collaborator connections alongside Devan Crawford to assist MHDI faculty with grant 

submissions, and Kali Patterson who assists with communication efforts to reach faculty. While this work is reflected 

in the formal programs listed below, MHDI staff continually extend beyond these efforts to support UNL faculty in 

various research efforts. 


Faculty Mentoring Program 

Effective mentoring is one of the most critical components of a successful academic career. In 2015, the MHDI 

established an organized a mentoring program which is designed to enhance the academic excellence and leadership 

capacity of diverse faculty and health disparities researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and ultimately 

reduce health inequities. MHDI focuses on some of the challenges that trainees from minority and underserved 

groups and other faculty whose research is addressing health equity may face. 

MHDI recognizes that NU junior faculty, who specialize in health equity research, require a more robust mentoring 

program to be competitive in today’s funding environment. The MHDI Faculty Mentoring Program looks to capitalize on 

the departmental support already provided to its affiliated, early-career, health equity researchers. MHDI understands 

that the trend towards inter-institutional and trans-disciplinary research teams requires a junior faculty mentoring 

program with an interdisciplinary, multiple strategic approach. MHDI provides its junior faculty with a wide range of 

support including developing a tenure track, strategic work plan, on the ground support of their community-engaged 

research and grant proposal development from the concept stage, to the funding of research, as well as post award 

support. The MHDI Faculty Mentoring Program offers professional development opportunities, grant writing and 

proposal development services, publication submission, name recognition, and international presence. Current core 

faculty members who benefited from this program in fiscal year 2020-2021 include Marc Garcia, Catherine Garcia, 

Angela Palmer-Wackerly, Virginia Chaidez, Julie Tippens, Tim Nelson, Kathryn Holland, Deb Hope, and Becca Brock. 

Annual Grant Writing Workshop 

Prior to and continuing since his changeover to MHDI Co-Director, Trey Andrews, initiated planning for an inaugural 

MHDI grant writing workshop that incorporates faculty from across the NU system. During the summer of 2020 and 

2021, Devan Crawford dedicated significant time to the detailed planning and execution of the workshop with the 

assistance of Kali Patterson, MHDI Project Assistant. The workshop meets weekly with separate tracks for novice and 

experienced grant writers, and it incorporates dedicated writing time, feedback from peers and senior investigators 

with incredible track records of funding success (e.g., Rick Bevins), and grant education/assistance from Devan 

Crawford. The workshop had 23 attendees who met weekly on Tuesdays from 9:00am – 12:00pm. The participants 

included professors, post-doctoral research appointees, graduate students, and staff from the University of Nebraska 

- Lincoln, University of Nebraska Medical Center, and University of Nebraska – Kearney. The summer series offered 

separate tracks for novice and experienced grant writers, including both a lecture focused “bootcamp” and a writing 

focused “workshop” session. Attendees could attend one or both sessions each week. The MHDI staff worked to 

respond to early feedback to the summer series and modified the summer sessions to incorporate dedicated writing 

time, expert feedback sessions from senior investigators, brainstorming breakouts with series colleagues, and grant 

education/assistance. Outcome data provided from our external evaluator showed that: 

“ 

While less than two-thirds (64%) of participants felt somewhat or very knowledgeable about grant 

writing prior to joining in the series, nearly all (93%) left the series feeling equipped with this level 

of knowledge. This represented a statistically significant improvement from pre to post (p

workshop, they most valued the feedback they received, the dedicated time to focus on writing, and learning more 

about funding and grant writing.” 

The series was so successful, that many attendees voluntarily chose to continue meeting throughout the academic 

year. In response, MHDI staff organized monthly meetings with summer attendees September 2020 – May 2021 to 

provide additional support, feedback, and structure while proposals were developed and revised. Additionally, the 

series provides MHDI with an immediate introduction to new faculty hires, for example Anna Jaffe and Catherine 

Garcia in 2020 who both attended the series before beginning their faculty appointments in the Fall. Because 

of MHDI’s efforts, these new faculty were better positioned to submit highly competitive federal proposals with 

colleagues and collaborative teams, within their first year on campus. The inaugural year resulted in 5 submissions 

and over $8,000,000 in submitted funding, a resounding success. 

This summer (May 2021 – July 2021) the MHDI is once again co-sponsoring a Summer Grant Development and 

Workshop Series. The series was modified for 10-weeks of content and workshop meetings. There are 28 attendees 

participating in a similar structure to last year. MHDI staff have worked hard to incorporate much of the feedback from 

last summer’s attendees. It is expected that upwards of 15 federal proposals will be submitted in the coming Summer 

and Fall cycles, all of which will have benefited from the series efforts. The attendees have already requested and 

committed to continued meetings in the Fall and Spring Semesters, with many already identifying specific months 

they would like to submit grant materials for expert and colleagues review. 

Undergraduate Research Programs 

Despite decades of science education programs, minoritized and historically excluded populations remain critically 

underrepresented in health research and healthcare professions. Research on health disparities and health equity 

suffers from a “leaky pipeline,” and training, education, as well as retention of students from diverse backgrounds 

diminishes as one moves to more advanced coursework and practice. This leaky pipeline also often means that 

health equity workforce does not adequately reflect the communities most affected by health disparities. MHDI aims 

to bolster representation through collaborating with NU faculty to provide supplemental research, work, and training 

experiences for students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. The goals of increasing the diversity of health 

science scholars and training the next generation of health equity scholars go hand in hand, and they require a robust 

programmatic strategy to be accomplished. Currently, MHDI offers three research programs for undergraduates. 

Having provided training to over 100 undergraduate and graduate students, MHDI’s programs enable its scholars 

to work alongside core faculty members and the leadership council on pressing issues related to health disparities 

and health equity. These students are well-positioned to foster and expand a breadth of skills required to understand 

and disseminate health disparity findings to their campus communities and beyond. In tandem with our core faculty 

and leadership team, MHDI students participating in the REU Program and the URP Program constitute the audience 

which makes up the very foundation of our future research and healthcare community. 

MHDI Research Experience for Undergraduates (MHDI REU). Now in its 7th year, the MHDI REU Program focuses 

on the application of community-engaged methodologies for health equity research, including community-based 

participatory research, clinic-based research with community-engaged approaches, social network analyses, and 

social context assessment tools that are central to the leading-edge science of social determinants of health (e.g., 

assessing discrimination as it happens). Based on these trainings, students learn how to design and conduct health 

disparities related research studies applied in health equity research. In this program, REU participants learn basic 

approaches to health equity research and then employ these skills, under the supervision of one of our MHDI Core 

Faculty members in a range of sponsored National Institutes of Health (NIH) and National Science Foundation (NSF)- 

funded research projects at UNL that focus on health equity and health disparities. This year, we received over 300 

applications for just 6 positions in our program. In the summer of 2021, due to Covid-19, our program was held virtually. 


Students participate in case-based workshops and discussions on various topics, learn about graduate programs, 

learn how to apply for grants to fund their graduate training, including the NSF Graduate Research Fellowships 

Program (GRFP), develop a concept paper on their own research interests, and present a poster about their summer 

research project at a university-wide research fair with more than 100 other summer research participants. The 

students also attend research-based workshops aimed at exposing them to a wide variety of research methods 

including community based participatory research, mixed-methods research, and evaluation methodologies. Finally, 

adding underrepresented minority (URM) undergraduates to the ranks of graduate education in the social sciences 

is an important goal of MHDI. The majority of past MHDI REU students have enrolled in a graduate program since 

their participation, and because of this program, there has been an increased number of highly competitive URM 

undergraduates applying to social science graduate programs, medical schools, and public health professional 

programs. 

2021 MHDI Research Experience for Undergraduates Program Participants 

MATTHEW CAMPOS 

Project: “Examining Racial/Ethnic 

Disparities in Diabetes Diagnosis, 

Care Access, and Glycemic Control” 

Mentor: Trey Andrews 

OLIVIA CHANG 

Project: “Components of Executive 

Function as Predictors of Youth 

Mental Health During COVID-19” 

Mentor: Tim Nelson 

ELIZABETH CURTIS 

Project: “Gender and Ethnic 

Differences in STEM Related 

Achievement Beliefs Among White 

and Latinx Elementary Students” 

Mentor: Lorey Wheeler 

ABIGAIL GAYOSO REYES 

Project: “The Characteristics of 

Older Adults in Puerto Rico that 

Live in Low Quality Housing versus 

High Quality Housing” 

Mentor: Catherine Garcia 

SHARON JARAMILLO 

Project: “Adverse Childhood Events, 

Machismo, and Self-Efficacy” 


LOURDES ROMAÑACH 

ÁLVAREZ 

Project: “Housing Quality and 

Depression Among Older Adults 

in Puerto Rico” 

Mentor: Catherine Garcia 


MHDI Undergraduate Research Program. The MHDI Undergraduate Research Program (MHDI URP) is an 

interdisciplinary program that offers advanced research training in health disparities research. The goal of the 

program is to increase the number of underrepresented students who pursue graduate degrees and research careers 

in health disparities research and social and behavioral sciences, more generally. The MHDI URP helps prepare 

undergraduates for graduate study through intensive research experiences with MHDI faculty mentors and enriching 

professional development activities. Now in its 8th year, MHDI URP celebrates the achievements of its alumni. 

2020-2021 MHDI Undergraduate Research Program Participants 

EVELYN ESTRADA 

Major: Psychology and Ethnic Studies 

Mentor: Holly Hatton-Bowers, Julie Tippens, and Virginia 

Chaidez 

SYDNEY HULS 

Major: Communication Sciences and Disorders 

Mentor: Tierney Lorenz 

DAVID SANCHEZ 

Major: Communication Sciences and Disorders 

Mentor: Michelle Hughes 

CLARICE SANTOS 

Major: Sociology and Economics 


DANIEL NGUYEN 

Major: Psychology and Political Science 

Mentor: Becca Brock 

To date, over 50 students have participated in our program, are now completing their Masters and Ph.D. degrees, 

and preparing the next generation of minority health scholars as mentors and teachers. Participating students work 

up to 10 hours per week with MHDI Core Faculty mentors and their research teams on existing projects to plan 

and execute an independent project. Students develop knowledge and skills in all phases of research, including 

hypothesis development, research design, data analysis, and scientific writing. Faculty guide students through the 

process of formulating a research hypothesis, analyzing, and summarizing the findings. At the end of the program, 

students are given opportunities to present their research at the UNL Spring Research Fair and potentially at regional 

or national conferences in their related fields. 


COVID-19 Research Project 

A Systems-based Community Intervention Development: A Multilevel CBPR Approach to Enhancing Health Care Services 

and Communication in Meatpacking Communities. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its unequal effects on 

minoritized communities, MHDI leadership used carry-forward funds from the prior fiscal year to build a foundation of 

community-focused COVID-19 research. Led by MHDI core faculty with consultation from MHDI leadership, the project 

addresses the ways community systems can be better leveraged to minimize the COVID-19 disparities. Community 

systems and resources, beyond just traditional healthcare clinics, are now recognized as some of the most vital 

components for combating the pandemic. Whether conveying reliable information, encouraging vaccine uptake, or 

complying with testing, isolation, and contact tracing, community systems, such as faith-based organizations, schools, 

non-profits, and public health centers are vital. This project focuses on better identifying how these systems could 

better collaborate and leverage their combined resources to combat the ongoing pandemic. 

As one concrete example for the importance of this kind of project, Nebraska’s two most urban 

counties (Lancaster and Douglas) have by far the highest rate of vaccination with over 60% of adults 

and approximately half of all residents fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, Saline County (where study 

site, Crete, is located) has only 32% of its residents vaccinated and Dawson County (where another 

study site is located) has only 28% of its residents vaccinated. Data-driven and evidence-based 

approaches are needed to address these glaring inequalities. 

The team is conducting a six month-long series of interviews to understand organizations adapted throughout the 

pandemic and identify continued gaps for responding to it. Interviews focus on identification and community strategies 

for elimination of barriers to test, contact tracing, and any future treatments/vaccines. Interviews also include data 

on symptom histories, prior testing, contact with other known positive cases, COVID-19 related stress and mental 

health outcomes, community strengths, and trusted sources of healthcare and healthcare information. These efforts 

will produce usable data for local policymakers and position MHDI for multiple additional proposals within NIH (e.g., 

NOT-MD-21-008, which explicitly focuses on disparities in COVID-19 vaccinations). 

MHDI Seed Grant Awards 

The goal of the MHDI Seed Grant Program was to provide support to emerging scholars and promising research 

projects in acquiring the preliminary data necessary to apply for and obtain external federal funding. These MHDI seed 

grant recipients initially received $10,000 in direct costs for one-year projects as well as access to MHDI resources 

for professional development and project support. The program prioritized project submissions that are aligned with 

MHDI’s mission and objectives in addition to being most likely to lead to successful extramural funding. These funds 

also helped support organizational activities that would enable submission of a large proposal to an external sponsor. 

With guidance from the Office of Research & Economic Development at UNL, these awards were discontinued; 

however, we report the successes of the previously funded awards that concluded during the most recent fiscal year. 

We have elected to re-purpose the funds for budgets in subsequent years, which we will use to grow UNL’s health 

equity infrastructure and better position MHDI for future external submissions. During fiscal year 2019-2020, MHDI 

awarded two members of its core faculty seed grants; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, these seed grant 

recipients were given a no-cost extension into the fiscal year 2020-2021. The current seed grant awardees are Dr. 

Rebecca Brock and Dr. Debra Hope. Their project updates throughout 2020-2021 and the pandemic are as follows: 

1. Daily Experiences of Sexual and Gender Minorities Living in Rural Nebraska (PI Rebecca Brock) The objective 

of this project is to understand the daily experiences of Sexual and Gender Minority (SGM) individuals living 

in rural Nebraska, including forms of discrimination, stigmatization, and marginalization that cause distress and 

impairment. The PI, Becca Brock, has compiled an investigative team to pursue R01 funding at the National 


Institutes of Health to test a novel framework linking chronic forms of minority stress and daily marginalization 

experiences to adverse outcomes (i.e., alcohol abuse, intimate partner violence). However, it is imperative that 

pilot data are collected to (1) demonstrate the ability of the team to recruit SGM individuals from rural Nebraska, (b) 

collect information about daily minority stress to refine and validate the measurement approach, and (c) establish 

feasibility of collecting daily reports over 30 days. Due to COVID-19, data collection for this project was suspended 

and will resume when it is safe to do so. 

2. Demystifying Psychosocial Assessments for Gender-Affirming Medical Procedures (PI Deb Hope). The goals of 

the seed grant are to (1) gather online data from Trans and Gender Diverse (TGD) adults in order to build a 

conceptual model about their experience with the psychosocial assessments, and (2) develop familiarity with a 

potential comparison group who has a similar requirement, adults seeking bariatric surgery, through focus groups 

with patients and providers. These data will serve as pilot data for a planned R21 submission in October 2020 in 

response to NIH PA-18-728 (Research on the Health of Transgender and Gender Non-Conforming Populations) 

which explicitly notes the need for research on models for determining who should receive medical gender 

affirming procedures. With the support of other funding, a PI visit to meet with potential funders and planned team 

building meetings with bariatric care providers and legal experts in medical decision-making are included in the 

timeline. Deliverables include further integration of Sharon Obasi, Ph.D. into our research team; an R21 submission 

in October 2020; and at least two manuscripts to be submitted to peer reviewed journals from the pilot data. 

MHDI seed grant recipients are required to identify external sources of funding and specify a timeline for a proposal 

submission that will be pursued as a result of this internal funding. Additionally, seed grant awardees are expected 

to actively pursue external funding sources (grants and/or fellowships) and are encouraged to submit a proposal for 

external funding within 24 months of receipt of the award (12 months after it ends or by 6/30/2022). 


COMMUNITY IMPACT

COMMUNITY IMPACT 

Community-based collaborations are central to the approach of MHDI. As an ultimate goal of these collaborations, 

MHDI focuses on strategies that lead to sustainable programming for our partners. This engenders goodwill from 

our community partners and alters a common framework where extramural funding only supports a highly innovative 

intervention for a brief period of time. Members of our leadership team and core faculty work united with both local 

communities and researchers in order to construct collaborative teams that are, at once, reciprocal in nature and 

invested in addressing health disparities over time. The means by which MHDI enacts this statewide is described in 

the following projects below. 

COVID-19 Vaccine Disparities Among Latinx Populations 

Pulling together resources from multiple sources, Andrews was able to secure a state 

contract to greatly expand research regarding COVID-19 vaccine uptake and partner 

with El Centro de las Américas to address these disparities. The project consists of 

two phases of interviews with Lincoln area Latinx residents. These interviews focus on 

vaccine uptake, vaccine hesitation, trusted sources of information, and trusted sources 

of healthcare. During the first phase, El Centro has conducted traditional educational 

outreach. Since collection of the first wave of data, Andrews has collaborated with El 

Centro to re-prioritize vaccine outreach strategies based on data indicating that the 

largest barriers to vaccine uptake was not hesitancy but structural barriers, like travel 

and worries about cost. The collaborative team have new secured agreements with 

community providers to conduct “walk up” COVID-19 vaccine clinics targeting areas 

where Latinx residents often frequent. The second phase of interviews will help assess the efficacy of this approach, 

but primarily identify continued areas of need related to COVID-19 disparities, including potential lingering mental 

health concerns. This project was able to be executed because of prior ORED funding for Andrews that allowed 

him to establish and refine similar interview procedures in meatpacking areas. Already, approximately 600 Latinx 

residents of Lincoln who otherwise would not have received vaccines, have now received them. This contract played 

a significant role in funding the outreach and planning that took place for these special vaccine clinics directed 

toward areas with high Latinx populations (e.g., Cristo Rey). These numbers also comprise approximately 10% of the 

COVID-19 vaccinations among all Latinx residents and have measurably reduced the racial/ethnic gap in COVID-19 

vaccinations. These efforts will continue until the contract expires later this year when additional contracts will be 

sought, and data will be leveraged to pursue federal funding. These efforts also offer sustainable strategies for 

other community partners who have assisted with the vaccine clinics in that they now have effective strategies for 

improving vaccine equity in our community. 

COVID-19 Impact on High-Risk Groups 

With funding from the Office of Research and Economic Development’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Grant Program, 

Dr. Trey Andrews, Co-Director of MHDI, is studying the effects of COVID-19 on two high-risk groups: Latinx 

meatpacking communities and people with histories of substance use. Both groups have shown COVID-19 testing 

and treatment hesitancy further enhancing the disease severity among these populations. The goal of this study 

is to better understand their willingness to seek testing, treatment and future vaccines; ability to obtain other 

types of healthcare; and access to mental health services to cope with COVID-related experiences. Every three 

months for the next year, Andrews is surveying two 200-member cohorts - one cohort focused on people who 

use drugs or are in recovery and the other on Latinx meatpacking community members in Crete, Lexington and 

Grand Island. The survey gathers information on COVID-19 exposure and treatment attitudes and behaviors; health 

care utilization and current health status; mental health; and experiences with discrimination and stigma. The study 

will help officials create effective public health communication strategies to reach these high-risk groups and build 

trust. These strategies will guide people to relevant medical resources and encourage evidence-based practices. 


CONTACT 

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN 

OLDFATHER HALL 430 

LINCOLN, NE 68588-0309 

MHDI.UNL.EDU 

MHDI@UNL.EDU 

(402) 472-5976 

@UNLMHDI

2021 MHDI Annual Report

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