Missouri team attends national diversity and health equity program

COLUMBIA, MO ( March 7, 2017) — Led by psychologist Dr. Micah Mazurek, a team of collaborators from the University Missouri and Saint Louis University was accepted to join a Diversity and Health Equity Peer Learning Collaborative funded by the federal Maternal and Child Health Bureau.

Mazurek directs the University of Missouri’s Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities (LEND) program, which provides training for graduate students and practicing professionals in evidence-based, interdisciplinary, family-centered and culturally competent care for children with developmental disabilities and their families. The LEND program has partnered with Dr. Pamela Xaverius, director of the Maternal and Child Health academic concentration in the Masters of Public Health program at Saint Louis University, to enhance statewide training efforts.

“By participating in this Learning Collaborative, the LEND program at MU is joining a national effort to promote best practices in diversity, health equity and cultural competence training for our graduate students and health professionals,” said Mazurek.

The Missouri team joined other Learning Collaborative teams for an in-person kick-off meeting in Birmingham, Ala., in February. Over the next six months, the teams will engage in peer learning and team sharing activities focused on ways to improve diversity and health equity in their training programs.

Other teams included training programs from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Indiana University, Tulane University, University of Minnesota, University of New Hampshire/University of Maine, University of Washington and University of Wisconsin.