About the Health Equity Research Methods Initiative

The Health Equity Research Methods (HERMes) Initiative grew from a CHOP Research Institute assessment of support, infrastructure, and resources for health equity research methods at our institution.

This gap assessment enabled benchmarking health equity science and translation against other exemplar institutions and revealed opportunities to develop goals that will position CHOP as a national leader in health equity research in the following ways:

• An anchor institution with meaningful, community-research partnerships
• A collaborative home for pioneers in health equity science
• An organization with cross-disciplinary teams that conduct high-impact equity-focused research and successfully secure external funding
• Representative, inclusive participation in research that protects against harm, heightens rigor, and improves the reach of innovations
• Action-oriented translational science that revolutionizes care and reduces disparities
• Equity-oriented research that is valued academically and professionally.

Ongoing work will focus on enhancing training and expertise in health equity science, advancing equity principles in all translational research, promoting multidisciplinary collaboration among diverse fields, and streamlining equity-oriented processes. Equity-oriented discussions will encourage dialogue at PI meetings and working groups across the Research Institute.