Centers & Institutes
Centers & Institutes
An unrelenting focus on translation into community practice
At the Parkinson School, our centers and institutes embody our mission to pursue innovative research, empower a new generation of health professionals for others, and inspire a vigorous commitment to service.
We embrace inquiry and cultivate partnerships to create impact. We apply our knowledge and skills to uplift our globe’s fellow citizens, particularly the most vulnerable among us. We bring our research into the world, developing novel solutions to advance health at both the individual and population levels.
Through our centers and institutes, we strengthen our position as thought leaders, collaborators, and problem solvers building a more productive, efficient, and connected health care landscape.
Whether you want to ‘move fast and break things’ or ‘think different,’ you can expect that Parkinson’s centers and institutes aim for disruptive change in health and health care.”
NICHOLAS D. SOULAKIS, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR HEALTH OUTCOMES AND INFORMATICS RESEARCH
Center for Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CHIE)
Launched in 2020, the Center for Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CHIE) continues assembling a community of enterprising stakeholders—faculty, students, community partners, and business leaders among them—interested in reducing health inequities and improving population health. Through interdisciplinary research, collaboration, and strategic partnerships, CHIE catalyzes innovation in teaching, research, and service to foster innovative, scalable, and sustainable health solutions.
In addition to providing entrepreneurial training through the I-Corps@NCATS (National Center for Advancing Translational Science) Program, CHIE hosts pitch competitions, seminars, and summits, including Health Equity Quest, its annual flagship event designed to jumpstart promising ventures and ignite valuable connections.
Center for Health Outcomes and Informatics Research (CHOIR)
Spurred by a $25 million endowment, the Center for Health Outcomes and Informatics Research (CHOIR) educates and engages faculty, health care professionals, resident physicians, and students in the fundamentals of health outcomes research and data-driven health care delivery and outcomes.
Since its 2017 founding, CHOIR has worked to create a data-driven culture to improve health outcomes and health equity through various initiatives: bringing its big data expertise to improvement-minded health care organizations; devoting more than $1 million to faculty projects leveraging CHOIR’s informatics infrastructure and data analytics capabilities; and hosting an annual event, Salon: Data Science for Social Thinkers, designed to democratize health data and launch partnerships.
Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)
In 2018, Loyola joined the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM), a $50 million National Institutes of Health-supported Clinical and Translational Science Award program: Advancing Health toward Health Equity throughout Metropolitan Chicago. ITM is comprised of six leading Chicagoland academic medical and health care systems, including the University of Chicago and Rush University Medical Center.
To date, ITM has connected more than 1,800 researchers and Chicago area organizations, funded and trained scientists, and worked to make clinical trials more accessible to local patients. By promoting interdisciplinary team science and fully engaging institutional and community stakeholders in health research, ITM unlocks innovative approaches to advance the science and practice of clinical and translational research. In the process, it is reducing traditional barriers to health care and mitigating disease risk, morbidity, and mortality to improve health and health equity in the Chicago area and beyond.
Enhancing Health Equity: 2023 CHOIR Grantee Projects
In fall 2023, CHOIR awarded funding to four early-stage, Loyola-based projects aiming to reduce health inequalities in the Chicago area.
■ Community Equity Response Collaborative: Loyola (CERCL)—Addressing Structural Barriers to Health Equity through Interprofessional Education and Community Engagement
PI: Amy Luke, Professor and Chair, Public Health Sciences, Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health
CERCL fellows received training on the principles of academic- community partnerships and community engagement while engaging in both service delivery and workforce development in under-resourced communities of color near Loyola’s Health Sciences Campus.
■ Advocacy Matters: Community Engagement to Address Gun Violence
PI: Amy Luke, Professor and Chair, Public Health Sciences, Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health
Loyola Stands Against Gun Violence provided bi-monthly grassroots organizing and advocacy workshops, hosted “Community Conversations” around multiple aspects of gun violence, including legislative reform and criminal justice approaches, and developed the coalition’s annual Community Advocacy and Violence Prevention Summit.
■ A Community-Based Innovation to Promote Black Women’s Mental Wellness in Chicago
PI: Marion Malcome, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
The Malcome-led project supported a preliminary community-informed feasibility study of the Friendship Bench intervention and approach to reduce mental health inequities at Sista Afya Community Care, a Chicago-based nonprofit mental wellness organization serving Black women experiencing financial insecurity.
■ Opportunities for Reducing Community Health Inequities for Depression (ORCHID)
PI: Sandi Tenfelde, Associate Professor and Director of the Women’s Health/Gender Related Nurse Practitioner Program, Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing
The community partnership with Near North Health aimed to reduce health inequities related to mental health services. It included addressing the needs of behavioral health patients—from assessing their social determinants of health to reviewing primary health care needs—as well as training nurses, case managers, and clinicians working in obstetrics to support patients struggling with postpartum depression.
Center for Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CHIE)
Launched in 2020, the Center for Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CHIE) continues assembling a community of enterprising stakeholders—faculty, students, community partners, and business leaders among them—interested in reducing health inequities and improving population health. Through interdisciplinary research, collaboration, and strategic partnerships, CHIE catalyzes innovation in teaching, research, and service to foster innovative, scalable, and sustainable health solutions.
In addition to providing entrepreneurial training through the I-Corps@NCATS (National Center for Advancing Translational Science) Program, CHIE hosts pitch competitions, seminars, and summits, including Health Equity Quest, its annual flagship event designed to jumpstart promising ventures and ignite valuable connections.
Center for Health Outcomes and Informatics Research (CHOIR)
Spurred by a $25 million endowment, the Center for Health Outcomes and Informatics Research (CHOIR) educates and engages faculty, health care professionals, resident physicians, and students in the fundamentals of health outcomes research and data-driven health care delivery and outcomes.
Since its 2017 founding, CHOIR has worked to create a data-driven culture to improve health outcomes and health equity through various initiatives: bringing its big data expertise to improvement-minded health care organizations; devoting more than $1 million to faculty projects leveraging CHOIR’s informatics infrastructure and data analytics capabilities; and hosting an annual event, Salon: Data Science for Social Thinkers, designed to democratize health data and launch partnerships.
Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)
In 2018, Loyola joined the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM), a $50 million National Institutes of Health-supported Clinical and Translational Science Award program: Advancing Health toward Health Equity throughout Metropolitan Chicago. ITM is comprised of six leading Chicagoland academic medical and health care systems, including the University of Chicago and Rush University Medical Center.
To date, ITM has connected more than 1,800 researchers and Chicago area organizations, funded and trained scientists, and worked to make clinical trials more accessible to local patients. By promoting interdisciplinary team science and fully engaging institutional and community stakeholders in health research, ITM unlocks innovative approaches to advance the science and practice of clinical and translational research. In the process, it is reducing traditional barriers to health care and mitigating disease risk, morbidity, and mortality to improve health and health equity in the Chicago area and beyond.
Enhancing Health Equity: 2023 CHOIR Grantee Projects
In fall 2023, CHOIR awarded funding to four early-stage, Loyola-based projects aiming to reduce health inequalities in the Chicago area.
■ Community Equity Response Collaborative: Loyola (CERCL)—Addressing Structural Barriers to Health Equity through Interprofessional Education and Community Engagement
PI: Amy Luke, Professor and Chair, Public Health Sciences, Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health
CERCL fellows received training on the principles of academic- community partnerships and community engagement while engaging in both service delivery and workforce development in under-resourced communities of color near Loyola’s Health Sciences Campus.
■ Advocacy Matters: Community Engagement to Address Gun Violence
PI: Amy Luke, Professor and Chair, Public Health Sciences, Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health
Loyola Stands Against Gun Violence provided bi-monthly grassroots organizing and advocacy workshops, hosted “Community Conversations” around multiple aspects of gun violence, including legislative reform and criminal justice approaches, and developed the coalition’s annual Community Advocacy and Violence Prevention Summit.
■ A Community-Based Innovation to Promote Black Women’s Mental Wellness in Chicago
PI: Marion Malcome, Assistant Professor, School of Social Work
The Malcome-led project supported a preliminary community-informed feasibility study of the Friendship Bench intervention and approach to reduce mental health inequities at Sista Afya Community Care, a Chicago-based nonprofit mental wellness organization serving Black women experiencing financial insecurity.
■ Opportunities for Reducing Community Health Inequities for Depression (ORCHID)
PI: Sandi Tenfelde, Associate Professor and Director of the Women’s Health/Gender Related Nurse Practitioner Program, Marcella Niehoff School of Nursing
The community partnership with Near North Health aimed to reduce health inequities related to mental health services. It included addressing the needs of behavioral health patients—from assessing their social determinants of health to reviewing primary health care needs—as well as training nurses, case managers, and clinicians working in obstetrics to support patients struggling with postpartum depression.