Congratulations to Daniel Schober on receiving a C3EN minigrant for Developing a Community Health Worker Intervention to Promote Public Benefit Use and Cardiometabolic Health Among African Americans, a project using community health workers to connect patients with public benefits and provide health education and social support to reduce cardiometabolic risk factors in a high risk population.
Dr. Schober is an assistant professor at DePaul University. His research has focused on racial health disparities driven by violence and chronic disease. Dan’s work in chronic disease has involved studying hypertension medication adherence among African Americans, the adaptation of a cardiovascular disease intervention program for Native Americans, and research to improve health education videos, brochures, and websites for Latinx populations. He teaches courses on epidemiology, research methodology and analysis, and health theory in DePaul’s Master of Public Health Program in the Social Epidemiology concentration. He earned his PhD from the University of Kansas in Behavioral Psychology and his Master of Public Health degree in Preventive Medicine and Public Health from the University of Kansas Medical Center.
How did you become interested in health equity?
I became interested in health equity as a graduate student at the University of Kansas. My academic advisor had a National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) grant to conduct a community-based participatory research project in Kansas City, Kansas. It involved engaging Latinx residents in health coalition building. While the health disparities for these residents were very apparent, their determination and capacity to create change on the local level was inspiring. Throughout this project, it became clear to me that health equity work was something I enjoyed and could contribute to.
How did you become interested in your C3EN minigrant research topic?
My project is titled, “Developing a Community Health Worker Intervention to Promote Public Benefit Use and Cardiometabolic Health Among African Americans.” I see community health workers as a vital link between the health system and local communities. Broadly speaking, my research interests have always been towards implementation. Since 2019, more of my teaching at DePaul has become focused on population-level health, and I’ve noticed the lack of research on how public and government benefits can improve population health. This C3EN minigrant has given me the opportunity to explore these factors more deeply and consider how CHW’s can promote use of government benefits and educate local people about how to use these benefits to best support their health.
How does your C3EN minigrant project fit into your broader research?
My broad research interest is racial health disparities driven by violence and chronic disease. I’ve partnered with Sinai Urban Health Institute to do much of this research. This minigrant offers an exciting opportunity to continue my partnership with SUHI and advance my research with Chicago neighborhoods that face health disparities.
Learn more about Dr. Schober and other C3EN minigrant awardees!