Two UofL College of Arts & Sciences winter graduates are looking to their hometowns for guidance in their professions and hope to serve the people who shaped them. Chloe Hale and Emmy Walters, studying anthropology and biology respectively, plan to continue their education in graduate school with the goal of utilizing their advanced degrees to support communities like those in which they grew up.

Documenting home

Moving to a city from a rural county can be a culture shock. Coming from Martin County, Hale quickly realized she had a different experience growing up in Kentucky than many of her classmates. Hale’s quiet anxiety around drinking tap water is something few could understand.

“It makes me sad to see on the internet when a place in my home county doesn’t have water and it’s not gonna be back on for two weeks or something like that,” Hale said. “Just the fact that I can drink the water here in Louisville from the tap makes me feel guilty, in a way, because my family members are there, and they can’t drink the water.”

Hale grew up in an Appalachian community where clean drinking water was not a guarantee or to be taken for granted. Martin County lost its regular access to safe water due to infrastructure, resource access, mining contamination and environmental destruction.

“I think when you can’t drink the water there’s this little piece of trauma in the back of your mind every time you drink from the tap,” Hale said. “It’s like, ‘Is it clean? Can I? Is this drinkable?’”

For an independent study, Hale chose to document how hairstylists back home struggled to work without guaranteed access to clean water. She asked her sister and fellow hairstylists to take pictures throughout their workday anytime they encountered the need to use water.

“I decided that it would be a good idea to examine water access through a group of women that rely on water for an income,” Hale explained. “Hairstylists need water for absolutely everything: to clean, to wash hair, to rinse hair, to make different cleaning solutions.”

The project used these pictures as a “photo voice” to document and display the obstacles the Martin County hairstylists encounter every day due to the lack of access to consistently safe tap water.

While returning home is a complicated option with the ongoing water crisis, Hale hopes to continue her education in Appalachian studies at UofL with her sights set on a future PhD to continue to document and uplift her hometown and other communities.

“I definitely love my hometown, but think I’ve been able to curate what it means to be Appalachian a little bit more just because it is its own culture and it is an identity I’m proud of,” Hale said.

A better vision for Kentucky’s future

Emmy Walters’ first connection to optometry was through her love of reading and an early vision assessment at school. She was one of the only members in her family to need glasses and this sparked a curiosity about the relationship between her vision and the biological mechanisms that supported her eyesight and her favorite hobby. As she aged, her curiosity for vision only grew as she understood the obstacles to both eye assessments and literacy in her community.

“Growing up, our access to eye care was sufficient, but then you get in surrounding counties where there won’t be an optometrist for 45 minutes,” Walters said.

Walters early childhood love for reading was protected by her access to an optometrist, and an early assessment allowed her natural curiosity toward books to go uninterrupted. Walters still reads regularly and will attend optometry school next year. After shadowing an optometrist in Campbellsville Kentucky, her hometown, she hopes to practice in a similar rural area.

“I felt like I was home, like I was talking to my own family members; the way that they approached me and talked about things is something I’m used to, and it was comforting,” Walters said.

While shadowing in the practice, Walters began to see the personal impact she could have as an optometrist practicing outside of a major city.

“At least a third of the people that came in had never been to an eye doctor or hadn’t been in a very long time, and most of the time those were people from surrounding areas,” Walters said.

Walters hopes to one day combine her interest in optometry with her love for reading by supporting literacy through eye exams and philanthropy.

Interested in pursuing a degree or certificate program with UofL? Check out the�� to find a program.

UofL News talked with fourth-year UofL medical student Sierra Shockley about her commitment to addressing health disparities as a Health and Social Justice Scholar (HSJS). Recently selected by the American Lung Association to represent the organization at Respiratory Advocacy Day in Washington, D.C., Shockley met with legislators to address disparities in lung health. Her ongoing advocacy work as a HSJS gave her the chance to not only represent the American Lung Association, but also the University of Louisville.

UofL News: Tell us about your involvement with the Health and Social Justice Scholar (HSJS) program.

Shockley: The mission of this program focuses on addressing health care disparities and promoting equity within underserved populations, which aligns perfectly with my deep-rooted commitment to give back to every community I have the privilege of serving.

What truly excites me about this program is its emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration, fostering partnerships between students from various professional and doctoral programs, all working together to tackle the most pressing health inequities. Participating in this program has also challenged me to reflect on my role as a future physician, not just in treating patients but in advocating for systemic change.

UofL News: Why is it so important to address health disparities?

Shockley: ��Health disparities are not just medical problems—they are societal and reflect deep-rooted inequalities that need to be confronted if we are to create a more just and equitable health care system. It’s about making sure that healthcare is fair and accessible to all, no matter where people live or who they are.

It’s a stark reality that something as simple as a zip code can determine a person’s health outcomes, with life expectancy sometimes varying by more than ten years within just a 20-30-mile locational difference. This geographic inequality is just one example of how pervasive and alarming health disparities are. For instance, people of certain racial or ethnic backgrounds are more likely to face higher rates of morbidity and mortality for conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and asthma, simply because of the systemic barriers that exist in their communities.

UofL Health: How can health equity be advanced through community participatory research?

Shockley: Community-based participatory research (CBPR) involves engaging the communities affected by health disparities in every step of the process, from identifying the problems to developing solutions. CBPR allows for a more inclusive and comprehensive approach to tackling disparities, creating interventions that are both culturally relevant and practically applicable. This approach also helps ensure that the research is actionable, impactful, and sustainable while fostering a sense of trust and ownership within the community as they see that their voices and lived experiences are being valued in the research process.

UofL News: Tell me about your experience in Washington D.C. What was your biggest takeaway?

Shockley: My experience standing for the University of Louisville in Washington D.C. was both inspiring and transformative. The biggest takeaway was the profound impact that storytelling and personal narratives can have when advocating for change. While data and research are crucial, it’s often the emotional and human aspects of a story that resonate most with lawmakers.

This experience also highlighted the power of collaboration—whether it’s with fellow advocates, policymakers, or health care professionals. By working together, we were able to amplify our voices and drive home the importance of lung health on a broader scale.

UofL News: How do you plan to use your research/knowledge about health disparities in your medical career/practice?

Shockley: I am fortunate to be working with Dr. Scott Bickel and Dr. Rose Hawkins on a project analyzing the impact of urban greening on asthma exacerbations and related health outcomes. By studying how urban green spaces can mitigate asthma symptoms and improve respiratory health, I am gaining valuable insight into how environmental justice is tied to health equity, and this knowledge will undoubtedly influence how I approach patient care.

As a future surgeon, knowing many underserved communities face significant barriers to accessing surgical care, I hope to focus part of my career on bridging that gap. Whether through global health initiatives, public health programs, or working with underserved populations locally, I aim to be an advocate for systemic change, ensuring that the communities I serve have access to the resources and infrastructure necessary to lead healthier lives.

Funded by the NSF, a nearly is helping UofL cultivate environmentally conscious educators to equip students with knowledge of Louisville’s environmental issues and promote a more just and sustainable city.

Eight JCPS teachers participated in a six-week summer program where they partnered with UofL faculty in their urban-based ecological research. Mackenzie Kuhns, a Waggener High School chemistry teacher, collaborated with UofL Biology professor Mikus Abolins-Abols to study how Louisville’s urban heat island effects its robins.

“I didn’t like biology very much before I started this,” said Kuhns, who has previously participated in RET programs at UofL. “I have an appreciation now when learning about field work and different career opportunities for my students. When doing these programs, I always have something fun to bring back to them.”

For some teachers, it was their first lab or research project. Justin McFadden, an associate professor in the and one of the principal investigators of the grant, said this experience with UofL researchers strengthens their teaching.

“Learning what research is and what can happen during research helps our teachers think about what their students are capable of in classrooms,” McFadden said. “That’s one of the hidden things that come to life when you’ve been working in a lab for six weeks.”

The second part of the institute was to create curriculum support pieces that the teachers can weave into the established JCPS science curriculum.

Erin Brock, a biology teacher at Seneca High School, said the program opened her eyes to all kinds of environmental issues she was unaware of previously and by bringing in local examples, her students will be more engaged throughout the year.

“We learned that Louisville is the fifth most air polluted city in the nation. And I was like, ‘What the heck?’,” said Brock, a first-year participant in a RET program at UofL. “Our cohort has talked about how we don’t want to be all doom and gloom. We want to show students the activists working to address these issues. Some of these neighborhoods that are more affected by environmental issues are not able to have a voice for various reasons and we want our students to know that and to speak up.”

Teachers seeing themselves as agents of changes is one of the primary goals of the program, according to Linda Fuselier, chair of the and one of the principal investigators of the grant.

“Learning about pollution, in and of itself, can just be depressing and boring,” Fuselier said. “But when you put it into the context of here are some activists right down the road from you who are working to interpret the science so that communities understand what is going on with these big industries and regulating authorities, it can make the content hit home.”

During the school year, teachers will receive ongoing support through professional development sessions and a collaborative network designed to foster curriculum sharing, continued research and teacher leadership.

The NSF grant will fund the program for an additional two years to train a total of 24 teachers. Applications for the summer 2025 cohort will open in the spring.

“This is absolutely the best training I’ve ever had as a teacher, to make me a better teacher. I feel like I have so much to bring to the classroom this year that I want to get the kids kind of hyped up about. I’m very thankful for UofL for offering this program,” said Brock.

As of 2016, 70% of the line-of-duty deaths for career firefighters were caused by��UofL News caught up with Cripps to learn more about the classes he is teaching throughout Kentucky.��

UofL News: What made you want to raise awareness of occupational cancer?

James Cripps: When I was working as a career firefighter, another firefighter that came in as a high school student had gotten hired and been with our fire department for many years. After turning about 35, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and then died pretty quickly thereafter. The prevalence of cancer in firefighters is higher than your general population, but this is one of the first ones that really personally touched me and the department that I was working with at the time.

I talked to the chief at the time —��his name is Dave Goldsmith. He spurred me along to get this started because he thought my combination of being a firefighter and knowledge of cancer biology and how cancer works in the body would provide a good resource for firefighters.

UofL News: ��What should the general public know about occupational cancer?

Cripps: There are lots of different occupations that have higher risks of cancer than the general population, but I solely focus on firefighters. It is something that’s only recently been focused on in the past 10-plus years. Really, it comes about because of our increased use of petroleum-based materials — things that are derived from oil-based products of plastics and synthetics. Some of those are what they call “forever chemicals,” which are types of chemicals that get in your body and they’re there forever. These are the types of chemicals that penetrate the gear that firefighters wear, get inside their bodies, and really cause a lot of this havoc. It’s where we’re seeing increased rates of cancer, and firefighters dying earlier from very uncommon cancers.

UofL News: ��What topics do you cover in your trainings to firefighters?

Cripps: First of all, I explain to them what causes cancer, so they understand how these toxins cause cancer, and then we have mitigation strategies. So, we talk about different things, pretty much everything from what you would consider a decontamination procedure, which is something normally done when you’re exposed to hazardous materials. We also talk about limiting exposures by use of different types of new products or new types of gear that helps prevent a lot of these particles and toxins from getting to the firefighters themselves, and just some alterations of standard things that have always been done in the fire service.

Fire services is a lot like many professions, where we tend to do the same thing over and over, because that’s the way it’s always been done. Now, a lot of firefighters are seeing, a lot of younger firefighters are seeing that people are changing the way they’re doing things. Much of it is just changing behaviors.

UofL News:��What are some of the best ways to prevent occupational cancer?

Cripps: Awareness in general is probably the number one thing that helps. Being aware reinforces that they do the necessary mitigation strategies like decontamination after the fire where they try to remove as much contaminants from their skin as possible and wear the proper protective gear during the fire.

We also talk about making sure you’re having regular checkups with your doctor. I often suggest firefighters get a physical every six months. That way, if there’s any changes in bloodwork, it increases the chance of catching any type of potential issues that might be arising.

UofL News:��What does it mean to you to receive the Outstanding Community Engagement award?

Cripps: It’s a huge honor. The thing that really pushes me even more is that it gives me another opportunity to let people know of this problem because it’s not a widely known issue in the firefighter space, in general.

UofL student Nkechinyere Okorie, UofL Associate Professor of Social Work Jennifer Middleton and community engagement partner Redeemer Lutheran Church also received for their work throughout Louisville.

Any fire departments who are interested in a prevention training, can contact Cripps at james.cripps@louisville.edu or through the Colon Cancer Prevention Project

The study surveyed 92 children and 64 caregivers who were participating in the program at the time—52% responded to the questionnaire, leading to the results published in .

Students in the (SNMA) worked closely with UofL Health trauma surgeons and to create the Future Healers Program in 2020. The program helps Louisville youth who have been affected by violence to navigate the trauma, and inspires them to build a better future for themselves and their communities by introducing them to opportunities in the medical field. The partnership has brought more than 100 kids to the program, and its success has inspired Vanderbilt University Medical Center to replicate the initiative in 2023.

The study found that children and their caregivers with significant exposure to gun violence had a positive overall perception of the health care community, a compliment to the longtime goal of the Future Healers founders.

Louisville has seen a significant increase in gun violence within the last decade. The health care response from the , paired with the Future Healer Program, aims to create hope for the kids in this community.

The Reconstruct Challenge is led by the��,��in partnership with��, an innovation studio, with funding from the Kentucky Department for Public Health’s Office of Health Equity and the private operating foundation,��

Each of the 15 winners will be awarded $100,000 grants to further their ideas and will participate in a 12- to 18-month proof-of-concept phase where they will work with community partners and UofL researchers to pilot their innovations in the Louisville region. After this period, innovators will have the opportunity to receive additional follow-on funding to scale their innovations, maximizing their impact.��

The winners, listed below, also will present their solutions and projected impact at showcase events open to the public during three consecutive evenings at����

Reconstruct Challenge:��

• Feed Louisville
• Change Today, Change Tomorrow
• Journey Foods
• The Nori Project
• Free from Market��

Reconstruct Challenge:��

• Cook’s Nook
• Melanated Healthcare
• Every Mother’s Advocate
• Granny’s Birth Initiative
• Navigate Maternity��

Reconstruct Challenge:��

• Malama Health
• Kare Mobile
• Maro
• Kyndly
• Zenyor��Healthcare��

More than 100 organizations submitted proposals for this iteration of the Reconstruct Challenge focused on health equity, with applications from across the country. Proposals were evaluated by a panel of experts from the Louisville community, industry experts, and academic researchers. Of those receiving grants, 80 percent are women-led, and 67 percent are led by Black or brown founders. Eight of the 15 winners are from the Louisville area with the remaining seven originating from across the US.

In addressing challenges marginalized and low-income individuals and families face surrounding health equity, these innovative solutions include autonomous grocery stores, care communication platforms, fresh food vending machines, and mobile dental clinics.

“We’re��calling on our city to embrace these innovators,” said Stacy Brooks from��, an expert in corporate diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives who is working with winners to facilitate deployment of solutions in Louisville at industry partner pilot sites. “The Louisville business community has a unique opportunity here. By collaborating with the Reconstruct winners, they can contribute to the development and implementation of cutting-edge solutions that directly address health disparities. This is about forming meaningful partnerships that yield tangible and sustainable impact for the foreseeable future.”��

This Reconstruct Challenge builds on the work of UofL’s Health Equity Innovation Hub, an innovative partnership including UofL,��.��and the��. The Hub aims to remove the structural barriers to health for the populations it serves and focuses on solving important health equity challenges through research, innovation, and talent pipeline development. The challenge follows the prior successes of the two previous Reconstruct Challenges launched by Access Ventures in 2019 and 2022 addressing housing and barriers to employment, respectively. This Reconstruct Challenge series, executed by Render, is funded by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services and Access Ventures.

For more information about the Reconstruct Challenge, please visit��

The grants contribute to UofL’s strategic imperative to address health equity and serve as part of The Humana Foundation’s strategy to eliminate unjust and unnecessary barriers in health care.

“UofL continues to appreciate the support of The Humana Foundation in addressing health equity,” President Kim Schatzel said. “Their generous support will enable us to conduct the important work of engaging with communities of color to research the role of nutrition, food quality and diagnostic screening as they relate to heart health.”

“Every day, people face a multitude of choices that can affect their health and quality of life,” said Tiffany Benjamin, CEO of the Humana Foundation. “In too many communities, these choices are limited by factors beyond their control. That is why we are expanding healthy choices for communities and eliminating social and structural barriers, so that more people can reach their full health potential.”

Each of the three-year grants will fund regional nutrition programs. The larger of the two grants is $1,037,000 and will support the DISPARITY Trial (Dietary Intervention for primary and Secondary Prevention And Plaque Regression Investigated with Computed TomographY). The grant will support cardiac disease screening and nutrition-based interventions to address cardiac health disparities among older Black adults in Louisville.

The second grant of $154,000 is earmarked for the H.E.A.R.T. of Louisville Project: Helping Everyone Address Risk Today. The funding will support the identification of members of the Black community in Louisville at-risk for coronary disease and enrollment into long-term nutrition and lifestyle interventions.

“Food insecurity is a major problem that correlates with health care disparities,” said cardiologist Kim Allan Williams Sr., chair of the UofL department of medicine. “Nutrition education and food quality issues plague our African-American community, keeping heart disease as the leading killer of Americans. Our trials will help detect disease in those who are at risk and manage those already diagnosed using lifestyle changes, medication, enhanced access to cardiac care and advanced diagnostic imaging.”

The programs funded by both grants will include efforts to create healthy emotional connections, as a vital part of a holistic approach to care and shaping a healthier approach to nutrition to support lifelong health and wellbeing.

The CEL was created to help meet the goals of UofL’s 2019-2022 strategic plan, which emphasizes the importance of investing in student success beyond the classroom.

“New facilities, innovative programs as well as exciting and strategic goals for our future all point to a university that is thriving,” said UofL Interim President Lori Stewart Gonzalez. “As a Great Place to Learn, UofL prepares students for success here and beyond. We accomplish this by supporting the whole student through transformative, purpose-driven and engaged learning.”

“Engaged learning is an active process in which students apply their knowledge to real-world experiences using inquiry, critical thinking, active exploration and reflection thereby expanding their employability skills,” said Interim Vice Provost for Engaged Learning Gail DePuy. “We are excited to mark the opening of this wonderful new space on campus which will provide our students with opportunities to expand their learning beyond the traditional classroom.”

DePuy said the goal is that all students will have the opportunity to complete at least one engaged learning activity such as an internship, undergraduate research, community-based learning or study abroad experience before they graduate. To meet that goal, the CEL will both facilitate students’ access to existing opportunities through the university career centers, international center and office of community engagement as well as grow available undergraduate research opportunities and engaged learning activities incorporated in coursework.

The CEL is not just a resource for students. Community and industry partners often ask UofL for guidance on the best types of students (majors, talents, etc.) for their internship positions and what are best practices for a meaningful engaged learning experience for both the student and the business. To capitalize on the CEL’s potential to strengthen UofL’s ties to the community, the CEL will assemble an advisory board composed of local community organizations, economic development representatives, industry partners and nonprofits.

“We need hands-on, real-world experience to be fully ready for life after college, and employers expect us to have this type of experiential learning before they make job offers to new graduates,” said UofL Student Government Association President Dorian Brown. “Thanks to the strategic plan’s Great Place to Learn committees for getting this project off the ground and the university leadership for making the CEL a reality.”

To make LOUMED a world-class destination, its partners launched their effort in 2021 by conducting an in-depth economic impact report, forming a nine-person board equally representing each partner.

LOUMED’s shared goal of building tomorrow’s world-class medical and education district takes world-class urban planners and designers who have success in revitalizing complex urban districts. City Visions Associates and Gamble Associates have joined the LOUMED team and have proven successes at Rochester’s Destination Medical Center, Boston’s Longwood Medical Area and the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

“The Louisville Medical and ����ֱ�� District deserves a high-quality public realm commensurate with its high-quality of care, research and education,” says David Gamble, principal of Gamble Associates.

The strategic plan is designed to improve both the realities and perceptions of public safety, easier and more welcoming access to LOUMED, improved ease of circulation within the campus, both for pedestrians and vehicles and provides a greener campus with areas for employees, patients and visitors to relax. The LOUMED partners are also in discussions with Block by Block to provide security and maintenance services within the LOUMED campus.

“LOUMED is a hub of activity for patients, visitors, employees, students and researchers,” said Barry Alberts, CityVisions Associates’ managing partner. “The campus must be a welcoming, safe and comfortable place for every one of them. The LOUMED partners are committed to taking the necessary actions, as well as working with Louisville Metro and the Commonwealth of Kentucky, to ensure that it best meets these goals.”

The LOUMED partners have already worked to cultivate gardens, outdoor gathering spaces, plazas and drop-off areas on their respective properties. Collectively, these “pocket parks” form the framework for navigating the campus, better connecting into a campus-wide network.

The Framework Plan leverages the existence of these institutional spaces and reinforces the pathways between them.

• First Street leverages JCTC’s recent developments and centers new growth around a future campus quad and arts-inspired corridor that crosses Broadway.
• A vacant city-owned correctional facility near Norton Children’s Hospital is transformed into “LOUMED Gardens,” a new central gathering space for all families and care givers to gather and relax.
• One of the University of Louisville Health Sciences Center’s first buildings along Chestnut Street becomes the centerpiece of a connected network of pathways.
• Abraham Flexner Way – already an informal pedestrian pathway for UofL Health – will be improved with new landscaping, lighting, seating, signage, and crosswalks.

The future of LOUMED offers a safe, clean, well-maintained, and well-lit environment, a memorable public space network, ample and easily accessible parking areas, a strong sense of place, strong ties to adjacent neighborhoods with places to live, eat and shop, shared facilities and spaces and most importantly, an image that befits the educational, medical and scientific achievements that occur within its boundaries 365 days a year.