Researching for change.

C2DREAM aims to generate knowledge, analytical, and implementation approaches, and community engagement strategies to understand and develop solutions to address racism at multiple levels as a common determinant of inequities in obesity, hypertension, and Cardiovascular Disease.

Multiple partners, one center.

The Center for Chronic Disease Reduction and Equity Promotion Across Minnesota (C2DREAM) is a partnership between the University of Minnesota Program in Health Disparities Research, the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, and the Mayo Clinic.

In Minnesota, where the murder of Mr. George Floyd at the hands of police instigated a local, national, and global reckoning on the pervasiveness of racism, there is an urgent need to understand and ultimately address the ways that racism undermines the well-being of Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities. The mission of C2DREAM is to reduce disparities in CVD and RCC experienced by BIPOC communities including immigrants and refugees across Minnesota.

C2DREAM's regional partnership of academic institutions and community stakeholders is poised to understand and ultimately address the ways that racism undermines the well-being of BIPOC communities across Minnesota.

Our 5 aims for

research and action

#1.

Conduct research targeting prevention, early intervention, and disparities reduction on obesity, hypertension, and CVD.

#2.

Generate knowledge, analytical and implementation approaches, and community engagement strategies to understand and develop solutions to address racism at multiple levels as a common determinant of disparities in obesity, hypertension, and CVD.

#3.

Develop the next generation of health equity researchers.

#4.

Build a regional network of community stakeholders to guide the center’s activities, and translate findings into policy, practice, and system-level changes.

#5.

Conduct ongoing evaluation of C2DREAM.

Our regional approach

C2DREAM is located at:

  • UMN Medical School - Duluth

  • UMN Medical School & School of Public Health - Twin Cities Campus

  • Hennepin Health Care Research Institute - Minneapolis

  • Mayo Clinic & Mayo Clinic Health Systems - Rochester

We work with community partners at each location and state-wide.

Our partners

Our People

C2Dream Principal Investigators

  • Prior to joining department faculty and the Medical School Program in Health Disparities Research, Michele Allen, MD, MS, completed a fellowship in primary care research and the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program. She is active in health disparities research and scholarship and serves as a reviewer for several scientific journals. Learn more here.

  • Dr. Rachel R. Hardeman is a reproductive health equity researcher whose program of research applies the tools of population health science and health services research to elucidate a critical and complex determinant of health inequity—racism. Dr. Hardeman leverages the frameworks of critical race theory and reproductive justice to inform her equity-centered work which aims to build the empirical evidence of racism’s impact on health particularly for Black birthing people and their babies. In 2020, she was named the first Blue Cross Endowed Professor of Health and Racial Equity. Learn more here.

  • The research of Christi A. Patten, Ph.D., focuses on developing novel, theory-based behavioral interventions for tobacco cessation.

    Focus areas:

    • Tobacco cessation interventions for adolescents and smokers with psychiatric comorbidity

    • Social support and smoking cessation

    • Community-based participatory research to reduce health disparities among underserved populations

    • National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded intervention programs to reduce tobacco

    Learn more here.

C2DREAM Co-Investigators

  • Jessica Austin, PhD

  • Timothy Beebe, PhD

  • Kasey Boehmer, PhD, MPH

  • LaPrincess C. Brewer, MD, MPH

  • Andrew Busch, PhD, LP

  • Matthew Chinman, PhD

  • Matthew Clark, PhD, LP

  • Brooke Cunningham, MD, PhD

  • Felicity Enders, PhD, MPH

  • Susan Everson-Rose, PhD, MPH

  • Steven Fu, MD, MSCE

  • Sarah Gollust, PhD

  • Patrick Hammett, PhD

  • Kristen Jacklin, PhD

  • Sandra Japuntich, PhD, LP

  • Rhonda Jones-Webb, PhD

  • Warren McKinney, PhD

  • Jude Mikal, PhD

  • David B. Nelson, PhD

  • Sean M. Phelan, PhD

C2DREAM STaff

  • Mardryka Adzick, Project 3

  • Yahye Ahmed, Project 1

  • Lynn Andreae, Project 2

  • Hannah BlueDog-Crow, Administrative Core

  • Tabetha Brockman, Administrative Core

  • Graciela Porraz Capetillo, Project 1

  • Hana Dirie, Project 1

  • Mangan Golden, Project 3

  • Yasamin Graff, Community-Engagement Core

  • Nathalia Gutierrez, Project 2

  • Mikow Hang, Administrative Core

  • Madeline Her, Administrative Core

  • Tarissa Host, Investigator Development Core

  • Sheila Iteghete, Project 1

  • Sarah Jeno, Project 2

  • Ailee Leppi, Administrative Core

  • Rebekah J. Pratt, PhD

  • Elizabeth Rogers, MD, MAS

  • Pravesh Sharma, MD

  • Irene G. Sia, MD, MSc

  • Antony Stately, PhD

  • Katherine Diaz Vickery, MD, MSc

  • Mark Wieland, MD, MPH

  • Julian Wolfson, PhD

  • Abby Lohr, Project 1

  • Oscar Lozado, Project 2

  • Luz Molina, Project 1

  • Susan Nuemann, Project 1

  • Oscar Oranday Perez, Project 2

  • Amy Shearer, Project 3

  • Kaiti Smith, Project 1

  • Pheobe Young, Project 3