Consortium for Implementation Science Forum: Harnessing Implementation Science to Promote Health Equity

Spurred by an interest in how social interactions and structures mobilize processes of well-being and disease, Dr. Cory D. Bradley has contributed to several racial justice projects. While developing emergent expertise in implementation science as a postdoc, Dr. Bradley currently shares a leadership role in engaging colleagues in the field to account for anti-black racism in implementation science contexts and actively promoting equity frameworks and equitable solutions through collective action. 

Dr. Bradley pursues his postdoc training in the implementing sciences of HIV with Dr. Elvin Geng, MD, MPH, Director of the Center for Dissemination and Implementation at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. As an extension of his training, Dr. Bradley also brokers knowledge discovery in implementation science with St. Louis Regional communities and departments of public health as a principle coordinator for the region’s Fast Track Cities collective impact initiative which provides strategic scaffolding toward ending the HIV epidemic in the St. Louis Region. 

Dr. Lori Carter-Edwards is an Associate Professor in the Public Health Leadership Program, and adjunct faculty member in the Departments of Epidemiology and Health Behavior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) Gillings School of Global Public Health. She is the Director of the Community and Stakeholder Engagement Program in the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute (NC TraCS), and Co-Director of the program, ACCLAIM – Academic Career Leadership Academy in Medicine. A social epidemiologist and health educator, she has 25 years of experience conducting observational studies, interventions, and programs, with emphasis on social determinants of health associated with cardiovascular-related risk factors and outcomes in Black faith communities. She is a nationally recognized expert in community-engaged research.

Currently, Dr. Carter-Edwards is the Principal Investigator of a COVID-19 study on risk communication strategies in rural, Black faith communities, one of seven 2020 Gillings Innovation Labs COVID-19 awards.

James David Gailliard has dedicated the past 20 years to human economic and community development in North America and South Africa. Since 2005, he has pastored Word Tabernacle Church in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. This church has grown from 14 people to a mega-church serving thousands of families in North Carolina and Virginia. The church is housed in a 110,000 sq. ft. former Home Depot now called The Impact Center, providing a place for programs, partnerships, and paradigms that enable people to progress. This $13 million initiative is the state's most significant building re-use project of its type focusing on capacity building, childhood literacy, college & career readiness, culinary arts & hospitality, faith, family & personal development, health & wellness, leadership development, media & broadcast, and performing arts & worship. Upon completion, it is projected to create 75 new jobs and $10 million in annual economic impact to the region. He is the founder of The Reach Center, Inc, which exists to equip individuals to secure gainful employment, prevent homelessness, and break the cycle of violence through education, skills development, and connections to community resources. In 2016, he was named the Distinguished Citizen by the Rocky Mount Chamber of Commerce. In 2018, he was elected as Representative for House District 25 (Nash County/Rocky Mount), in the North Carolina General Assembly, the first African American to hold this seat. His work has been featured in publications such as Fact & Trends, Church Executive, Business North Carolina, and many national and local newspapers.

Dr. Eva Woodward is a clinical health psychologist. In her research, she uses and studies implementation science to improve equitable health care delivery for groups experiencing disparities, such as people of color, sexual minority (lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer [LGBQ]), and low-income individuals. Her work focuses on implementing health psychology interventions or interventions in primary care settings. She complements her research with clinical care and training in primary care mental health integration. She is also a trainer for the Implementation Facilitation Training Hub, operated by Behavioral Health Quality Enhancement Research Initiative through the Veterans Health Administration.

Dr. Woodward currently works at the VA Center for Mental Healthcare and Outcomes Research (Little Rock, Arkansas) and University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

Dr. Sara Jacobs is an implementation scientist on the Systems and Implementation Research & Evaluations team in RTI International’s Translational Health Science division. She has more than 12 years of experience in health care policy, research, and consulting. She received her PhD in Health Policy and Management from the University of North Carolina, focusing on implementation science and organizational studies. Her research interests include the analysis of both the individual characteristics and organizational factors that predict innovation implementation and conducting implementation-science based evaluations. Although most of her work is applied, she has also helped develop and psychometrically test measures to assess organizational readiness for change and implementation climate. Her evaluations focus on implementing innovative payment and care delivery models, as well as efforts focused on diabetes prevention and improving the care for individuals with sickle cell disease. She is also experienced in qualitative and quantitative research methodologies and mixed-methods evaluations.