Our state is ranked as one of the healthiest in the U.S., but a closer look reveals a more complicated story. Utah’s racial and ethnic minority populations are less healthy than its white populations, a trend that’s worsened over the last two decades, according to the Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). A Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute report found that these groups are more likely to have less income, lower educational attainment, and high housing cost burdens.

The University of Utah’s new Center for Research on Race, Health Justice and Public Policy is a groundbreaking endeavor to identify the underlying factors driving significant health and social disparities in Utah and across the Intermountain West. Founded by Martell Teasley, professor and dean of the College of Social Work and current Associate Provost for Strategic Academic Initiatives, the center will focus on wide-ranging topics, including the disproportional impact on juvenile justice referrals on minority students, opioid addiction for low-income white males, and rising suicide rates for both men of color under 18 and white men over 50 years old. The venture will serve as an incubator for policy analysis, interdisciplinary scholarship, and mentorship for trainees and faculty leaders to uncover and address the systemic factors that drive unequal access to healthcare, education, juvenile justice, and more.

“Race is a central organization principle and ongoing narrative in our lives that impacts the structure and functioning of our society. As an exercise of power and dominance within and among groups, racism is like cancer in our lives, and we should continue to fight to eradicate it. But unlike cancer, people created racism and people can work to get rid of it,” Teasley said. “We’re not interested in the speculative arena, we are centered on the use of real-time research and, based on the evidence, make recommendations to improve the lives of people and communities through research outcomes and public policy analysis.”

Funded by an initial $1 million University of Utah seed grant, the center is the first research hub with race and racialized disparities as a central focus in the entire Intermountain West. With the region experiencing changing demographics and widening resource gaps between urban and rural populations, Teasley and the leadership team want to fill that void, focusing on research in three pillar areas: health and educational disparities and public policy solutions.

“We know that all these things are interconnected. We also know that public policy threads these topics together,” said Julie Lucero, associate director of the center and associate professor in the Department of Health and Kinesiology in the U’s College of Health. “We often talk about them independently, but they’re part of a larger system. And if we can characterize that system, then that advances health care and education for all.”

The center’s executive board represents its commitment to a “One-U” ethic, as each faculty member brings a unique research approach for identifying solutions to societal disparities. They will also partner with existing organizations, on and off campus, and connect with community groups to get the full picture of what’s happening in different populations.

“We know that racial disparities are real, particularly in terms of health outcomes,” said Provost Mitzi Montoya, addressing attendees of the center’s open house in late February. “We need to know how and why they exist, and what public policy interventions and potential solutions can close these gaps.”

For more information and future opportunities, visit the Center for Research on Race, Health Justice and Public Policy website.

• Lisa Potter Research communications specialist, University of Utah Communications
  949-533-7899 lisa.potter@utah.edu