For nearly two decades, Mary-Ellen Brown, Ph.D., has studied how stress and trauma shape the resilience, health and well-being of communities. Her research examines how human relationships and the systems people create can either strengthen community health or deepen existing inequities.
As principal investigator of the national evaluation conducted through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Brown led efforts to assess a nationwide initiative supporting the community health worker workforce. Findings from this work are featured in a new supplement to the American Journal of Public Health, “Pandemic Response to Enduring Resilience: Findings From a Nationwide Community Health Worker Initiative.”
The supplement examines lessons from one of the largest federal investments in community health workers in U.S. history. Its articles address community health worker training, strategies for sustaining and supporting the workforce, stronger public health infrastructure and the advancement of health equity. Together, the authors make the case for sustained, long-term investment and closer coordination across federal, state and local agencies.
“Dr. Brown’s research shows what has to be built years ahead of time to ensure help is ready when people need it,” said Dean Allan Cole. “I’m proud to have her on our faculty, and grateful for her impactful work.”
Brown served as lead guest editor for the supplement, alongside co-guest editors Noelle Wiggins, co-director and founder of the CHW Center for Research and Evaluation, and Victoria Adewumi, community health worker co-director of the CHW Center for Research and Evaluation and a doctoral candidate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Brown was recently appointed director of faculty affairs at UT Social Work. She is the director of the national Center for Resilient Communities, funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and is also a faculty research affiliate with the Moritz Center for Societal Impact, the Mayo Clinic and Arizona State University’s Global Center for Applied Health Research and Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation. Her scholarship has drawn funding from the CDC, the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the U.S. Department of Justice.
“What our evaluation found, again and again, is that the programs able to respond fastest were the ones that already had trained community health workers and established community relationships in place,” Brown said. “You cannot build that during an emergency. You build it before one.”