The Chelsea Project: The Alchemy of Science, Policy and Community (WIP Series)

Event Details

On Tuesday, May 25, the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University will host the next event in its Work-in-Progress (WIP) Series. Please join us for a panel discussion on The Chelsea Project: The Alchemy of Science, Policy and Community. Dr. Margaret Sullivan, FXB Center research fellow, will provide introductory remarks. This event will take place as a Zoom webinar from 1 to 2 p.m.

The Chelsea Project is an endeavor to create a long-term, self-sustaining, and resilient public health system. The project involves building block-level sensing and intervention in collaboration with grassroots community organizations and the city government. Our immediate focus is on helping the city with the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Project adopts a multi-disciplinary approach in building the new public health system in Chelsea, drawing on control theory, social epidemiology, public health literacy, causal inference, and complex adaptive systems.

Event Recording

Panelists

Cristina Alonso completed her Doctor of Public Health at Harvard T.H.Chan in May 2021. Her thesis on “The Impact and Social Response to COVID-19 in Chelsea MA” has informed and guided the public health response in Chelsea from being the epicenter of the pandemic to developing a grass roots response that integrates holistic needs of the community.

Samantha Bates is the Executive Director of Center of Complex Interventions (CCI), a nonprofit that applies scientific research to real world problems.

Dan Cortez is the Community Engagement Specialist for the Chelsea Police Department in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Dan works closely with residents, community leaders, elected officials, business owners and community-based organizations along with police personnel to create meaningful relationships and partnerships aimed at improving the safety and well-being of the community.

Karthik Dinakar is a Machine learning and clinical medicine researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is the research lead for The Chelsea Project.

Barry Keppard is the Director of the Public Health Department at the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC). He also manages the department’s health impact assessment practice which aims to strengthen the connection between physical and environmental factors and health, and to look at how policies and programs can reduce health inequities.

Registration

To register and receive Zoom webinar details, please contact Jasmine Young at jasmine_young@hsph.harvard.edu.