Massachusetts Community Engagement Alliance (Massachusetts CEAL)

• Benjamin Linas, MD, MPH
  Principal Investigator, Administrative Core Director
• Annette Nansubuga , MSc
  Program Manager
• Sabrina Assoumou, MD, MPH
  Co-Investigator
• Katherine Gergen Barnett, MD
  Co-Investigator
• Mari-Lynn Drainoni, PhD, MEd
  Co-Investigator, Evaluation Core Director
• Kimberly Fisher, MD
  Co-Investigator, Population Data Core Director
• Jai Marathe MD, MS
  Co-Investigator
• Rebecca Rudel, DrPH, RD
  Co-Investigator
• Sarah Barnes
  Research Study Coordinator
• Manfred Mate-Kole, MBChB, MPH
  Research Study Coordinator
• Shaquera Robinson, MPH
  Community Engagement Specialist
• Jazmin Granadeño, MPH
  Community Engagement Specialist
• Glory Ruiz, MD
  Multiple Principle Investigator
• Laura Sánchez Concepción, BA
  Research Associate

The Massachusetts Community Engagement Alliance (MA-CEAL) Steering Committee (SC) serves as a collaborative body that brings together community members, organizations, and researchers to advance health equity across Massachusetts. The SC leverages the lived experiences, cultural insights, and professional expertise of its members to guide MA-CEAL's efforts in addressing health disparities, combating misinformation, and fostering trust within communities disproportionately affected by health inequities. 

CEAL is a nationwide initiative led by the National Institutes of Health with centers across the country. Learn more about the NIH Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL)

CHA: 

The Community Health Ambassadors (C.H.A.N.G.E.) program will work within Housing Developments in Boston to connect residents to support services, health information, and other resources. MA CEAL is partnering with Boston Medical Center to develop an infrastructure that will help ensure residents living in Boston's low-income housing receive the support they need to access the services. Through the initiative, trusted community members known as Community Health Ambassadors (CHAs) will be employed and trained by Boston Medical Center (BMC) and its affiliated organizations to enhance the coordination between health, social service agencies, and residents in need of their services. Throughout the study, CHAs will identify barriers to healthcare access within their housing complex, offer educational resources to community members, provide social support, inform researchers about the community's needs, and report to the research team with data on disease management and barriers to effective care. 

Storytelling:     

The Storytelling to Build Medical Trust project aims to address issues of medical mistrust within minority populations in Boston. It explores how to earn trust, how to break it, and what this means for doctors, community members, and others engaging with the healthcare system. The project brings together providers and community members, asking them to use stories to create a bidirectional learning environment that will develop new skills in patient-centered communication among medical providers, while enhancing trust among community members. MA CEAL is partnering with the community group Everyday Boston to implement the “Storytelling to Build Medical Trust and Trustworthiness “program.

Community Engagement: 

Community Engagement Specialists are the invaluable connectors between MA-CEAL and the communities we serve, our community partners, and other public health organizations and stakeholders. Their hands-on impacts across public health awareness include community-facing activities where we collaborate with other research projects, building and sustaining community partnerships and collaborations, leading our Steering Committee, hosting Lunch and Learn sessions, and disseminating public health information. 
 

Email: MA-CEAL@bmc.org Phone: 617.414.7090