Welcome to the Community Health Equity and Justice Lab!
Goals & Objectives
Broadly, the goal of the Community Health Equity and Justice lab is to promote health equity and wellbeing among populations that have been historically marginalized and/or stigmatized by society and science. The lab has a specific focus on the intersection between the criminal legal system, LGBTQ+ communities, and individuals in the sex industry.
Within this goal, our work uses community-based and big data methods to achieve three objectives:
Identify & Understand Disparities
This objective focuses on identifying and understanding disparities and inequity that exist in treatment and societal services. This includes the examination of the influence of multiple intersecting identities (intersectionality) and the influence of historical and societal power and authority in the experiences of people.
Examples:
Intersectionality and Health Equity in Substance Use Treatment
Develop, Implement, and Evaluate Programs to Address Disparities
This objectives works to develop, implement, and evaluate programs to address known disparities and inequities happening in treatment and societal services. This includes programs developed, implemented, and evaluated in partnership with community-based organizations in the United States and abroad aimed at ensuring equity for those it hopes to serve.
Example:
Evaluate Existing Programs
This objective focuses on evaluating programs that already exist and/or have been funded and implemented in communities and societies. We work to examine if these programs are meeting their stated objectives and goals at the individual, community, and system levels.
Example:
Evaluation of Law Enforcement Anti-Human Trafficking Training
While Dr. Stenersen’s work emphasizes violence prevention and the intersection between sex trade, criminal justice, and LGBTQ+ communities, lab members/collaborators are free to explore additional areas related to health equity. Historically this has included projects related to intersectionality (race, ethnicity, and gender) in substance use treatment, transgender and gender non-confirming healthcare, and racial and ethnic disparities in community services.
For information about our research projects please see our Current Projects and Previous Projects pages.
To learn more about how to work with me and the lab at SLU please see the Prospective Students page.
In this lab, we believe that science is best when it:
Is accessible to everyone
Is done in service to, and in partnership with, the community we seek to serve
Celebrates the wonderful complexity and depth of the human experience
In action this means:
Planning for and enacting dissemination of our research that may include, but also goes beyond publication in a paid-access journal
Valuing both lab and community voices equally, regardless of formal education attainment or title
Maintaining and promoting a diverse, inclusive, and equitable environment
