Led by researchers at the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute at the University of Louisville, this five-year project seeks to identify and reduce loneliness among seniors aged 65 and older by combining neighborhood-level data, community engagement and targeted, place-based interventions.

“We are deeply grateful to the Humana Foundation for supporting this effort to find new ways to help seniors live healthier lives in Louisville and across Kentucky” said Ted Smith, Ph.D, co-director of the Humana Center for Community Health Research at UofL.

This initiative builds on the work of the Universal Basic Neighborhood (UBN) project, a framework developed to discover and promote the core resources neighborhoods offer that have been shown to support good health. Through the , researchers identified social connection as a key ingredient in healthy communities, and loneliness, especially among seniors, as a critical risk factor for poor health outcomes. The new project applies UBN’s data-driven approach to address this challenge, using demographic, clinical and environmental data.

“This project represents a direct application of this place-based framework to a real and growing need in our community,” said Lauren Anderson, a UofL researcher who developed that place-based data model for this work as part of her dissertation research.

The project continues a collaboration with Nancy Seay, Ph.D., with The Reverend Jesse Louis Jackson Sr. Center for Racial Justice and the Department of Sociology at Simmons College of Kentucky, who will lead the asset mapping and community-based research components of the study. Their work will focus on identifying both social needs and existing assets within the neighborhoods selected for intervention, helping to ground the study in the lived experience and local context of older adults.

Over the course of the study, researchers will work with community partners to test a variety of neighborhood-based strategies aimed at fostering social connection. The project will also gather new insights on how local infrastructure and community design influence emotional well-being in aging populations. While target neighborhoods are still being identified, the project team is also actively seeking organizations that serve seniors to join as collaborators and subject matter experts. Interested partners are encouraged to visit the project to learn more about how to get involved.

Funding for this work is provided by the Humana Foundation, whose commitment to community health and equitable aging has made this study possible.

How to participate:

• For seniors: Enroll in the study by taking the Baseline Loneliness Survey *Coming in July 2025*
• For partners: If you serve the senior population, contact Cayley.Crum@louisville.edu
• For volunteers: To help with outreach, survey collection or event support, contact Cayley.Crum@louisville.edu

“The Humana Foundation’s generous grant enables us to not only enhance our research capacity but also continue our commitment to breaking down barriers and achieving equal health outcomes,” said University of Louisville President Kim Schatzel. “This partnership will generate a lasting impact for all and allows us to further amplify our efforts to reduce health disparities and fulfill our mission of improving lives through education, research and service.”

This six-year initiative positions the university as a leader in addressing systemic health disparities through innovative solutions that can serve as national models. Led by Dean Katie Cardarelli and Ted Smith, professor of environmental medicine representing the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, the center will advance interdisciplinary research and foster collaboration across multiple fields and deepen understanding of social determinants of health. By tackling systemic barriers to health equity, the center aims to foster best-in-class community engagement and solution-oriented research that aligns with national health equity standards.��

“The Humana Foundation is proud to continue its partnership with the University of Louisville in its mission to foster health equity and drive impactful research and community engagement,” said Tiffany Benjamin, chief executive officer of the Humana Foundation. “Together, we aim to generate lasting, meaningful change by addressing the root causes of health disparities and ensuring that innovative solutions are accessible to all.”

Why this research matters

Health disparities, shaped by social determinants such as housing, education and access to health care, contribute to unequal health outcomes across communities. By addressing these systemic barriers, the Humana Health Equity Research Center will play a pivotal role in reshaping public health policy and practice at a national scale. The center’s efforts will generate data-driven insights, develop best practices for community engagement and create innovative, evidence-based interventions to advance health equity.

Building on research leadership

This grant builds upon UofL’s strong foundation of health equity research, UofL’s and the Humana Foundation’s earlier health equity work and the university’s reputation as a leader in community engagement. The funding will enhance the university’s ability to attract top-tier faculty, expand resources and retain the prestigious Carnegie Foundation’s Classification for Community Engagement. These enhancements further UofL’s capacity to tackle pressing public health issues with a national and global reach.

National and regional impact

The Humana Health Equity Research Center will develop accessible frameworks for addressing health disparities, benefiting communities throughout Kentucky and serving as a replicable model for other regions. By integrating research with actionable solutions, the center is poised to influence policy and practice across the nation, solidifying UofL’s status as a trailblazer in health equity innovation.

The commitment to the Humana Health Equity Research Center is expected to enhance faculty resources within the School of Public Health and Information Sciences and the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, allowing faculty to undertake advanced research on the social determinants of health and other health equity issues. It will also build upon previous work with Humana and the Humana Foundation to address health equity challenges in Louisville and Kentucky more broadly.

Through this grant, UofL strengthens its commitment to building healthier communities and ensuring equitable access to health resources for all, setting a benchmark for impactful research and meaningful engagement.

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��

“Our University of Louisville has been working with partners in Tamale, Ghana, for the last 14 years,” said division chief of pediatric global health and Humana Endowed Chair in International Pediatrics. “When we learned that AMPATH would also begin working at the same hospital and medical school in Northern Ghana, our group was thrilled at the idea of partnering with a consortium which has such a strong track record of effective global health collaboration.” ��

AMPATH is the Academic Model Providing Access to Health Care. UofL joins 14 other universities and medical schools around the world working in partnership with public sector hospitals and medical schools in Ghana, Kenya, Mexico and Nepal.

In Ghana, the partnership is led by (UDS-SoM) (TTH) and . The partnership launched in early 2019 with support provided to Indiana University from and .

As part of the AMPATH Ghana partnership, UofL will embrace the AMPATH philosophy to “Lead with Care” by continuing to provide pediatric clinical care that supports research and education in child health. This will include augmenting sub-specialty care in pediatrics, hosting two-way exchange of learners, initiating research grants focused on child health and broadening UofL’s institutional support with partners in Tamale, Ghana.

“The AMPATH Consortium welcomes the University of Louisville and we look forward to working together to both enhance their existing work in Ghana while learning from their expertise in international pediatrics to grow all of the AMPATH partnerships,” said Adrian Gardner, MD, MPH, executive director of the AMPATH Consortium.

“We are very excited to work with our colleagues at University of Louisville to grow pediatric medicine education, research and care in Tamale, Ghana,” said Professor Stephen Tabiri, MD, PhD, FGCS, FACS, FWACS, MEd (Adm.) dean of UDS-SoM. ��“We are looking forward to a very fruitful partnership.”��

Dr. Adam Atiku, CEO of Tamale Teaching Hospital added, “We are looking forward to further collaborating with our colleagues from the University of Louisville, with whom we have had over a decade-long partnership, as they join the AMPATH Consortium to continue in our collective quest to improve pediatric and child healthcare to clients within northern Ghana and beyond. We are very excited to see what we can achieve together for children in northern Ghana.”

The AMPATH Ghana partnership is based on a collaborative model that has helped to build a sustainable healthcare system over the past three decades in western Kenya.

“AMPATH Ghana’s long-term��partnership model presents a unique opportunity for University of Louisville faculty and trainees. We look forward to building relationships with our counterparts to strengthen pediatric care delivery in Tamale and northern Ghana,” Rajesh Vedanthan, MD, MPH, MS, director of the Section for Global Health at the Institute for Excellence in Health Equity and associate professor in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone.

In April, UofL faculty and residents traveled to Ghana and stayed in the AMPATH Ghana House with full-time faculty from NYU Grossman School of Medicine while working and training alongside Ghanaian faculty and residents.

“That experience further solidified our strong desire to be a part of the AMPATH Consortium. Seeing first-hand the projects which have already been started, how well they are partnered with our colleagues in Ghana, and how smoothly they managed the logistics in Ghana sealed the deal for our plans to join AMPATH,” said Williams.��

The AMPATH Consortium is led by Indiana University and includes Brown University, Dell Medical School at The University of Texas at Austin, Duke University, Kaiser Permanente Bernard J. Tyson School of Medicine, Linköping University (Sweden), Mount Sinai, NYU Langone Health, Purdue University, Stanford University Center for Innovation in Global Health, University of Alberta, University of California San Francisco, University of Toronto and the University of Virginia.

The division of pediatric global health at UofL was established as the international pediatrics division by George Rodgers, MD, more than 25 years ago with a partnership in Romania and other eastern European countries. The Humana Foundation generously provided funding for the division’s creation. Faculty in the division include Jackson Williams, MD; Nicole Bichir, MD; Sheridan Langford, MD; Bethany Hodge, MD, MPH (completed a rotation in AMPATH’s Kenya partnership in 2009); Dan Stewart, MD; Dan Blatt, MD; Mirzada Kurbasic, MD; and Kelly Frazier, MD. The division also has a partnership in Ecuador.

Supported by the University of Louisville, the Humana Foundation and the Health Equity Innovation Hub, the Air Justice website,, debuts at noon, March 28.

More than 50 UofL students have worked on the project since 2021 with a coalition that includes professors, community leaders and activists. The team conducted nearly 2,000 surveys around the Rubbertown area and also held workshops with residents to determine residents’ informational needs.

Rubbertown was named for the tire and synthetic rubber plants built there during World War II. Air quality in the area has suffered as a result. In west and southwest Louisville, the areas that border Rubbertown, residents are predominantly Black and other people of color, most of whom also experience poverty.

“The Air Justice team considers air quality an environmental health equity issue, one that has a lot to do with literacy or with how information about air quality is distributed in the city,” said Megan Poole, UofL assistant professor of English, College of Arts & Sciences. “The Air Justice website decodes the science and health effects of air pollution, uncovers the history of environmental injustice in West Louisville, amplifies residents’ stories related to air pollution, and directs residents to resources for reporting odors and pushing for increased air quality regulation.”��

In addition to Poole and the students, the��Environmental Health Literacy Coalition��includes:

• Shavonnie Carthens, assistant professor of law, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law;
• Keisha Dorsey, who formerly represented Louisville Metro Council District 3, an area bordering Rubbertown, and is now deputy chief of staff to Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, and
• the grassroots activist group Rubbertown Emergency Action (REACT).

Human health risks associated with the chemicals released in the Rubbertown area are over 10,000 times higher than the industry average.

“Even more pronounced is the inequity of this health issue,” Poole said. “Over 60% of residents identify as ‘minority,’ over 50% identify as Black, and over 52% experience poverty.”

This website launch is only the beginning of Air Justice’s health equity work. “This website is a communal work in progress,” Carthens said. The project aims to co-create health equity solutions alongside residents and local communities.

Air Justice also launched on Instagram (@airjusticelou) and Facebook (Air Justice Louisville) to begin engaging community members prior to the public launch of the website.��

The project has received over $350,000 through support from The Gheens Foundation,��and the Humana Foundation.

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 Hub is funded by a potential total investment of $25 million, including $10 million from UofL, $1.5 million from Humana and up to $13.5 million from The Humana Foundation. The investment by The Humana Foundation represents one of the largest single donations in UofL’s history and is contingent upon progress against the collaboration’s objectives and achievement of established milestones.

The Health Equity Innovation Hub is an integrated, multi-disciplinary collaboration among Humana, The Humana Foundation and UofL. The Hub will focus on groundbreaking research, talent development, entrepreneurship and innovation, with a deliberate focus on health equity, social determinants of health and digital health and analytics.

“Humana is committed to improving health equity and we will be intentional about addressing the underlying societal and structural factors that impede good and fair health, especially for people in communities that have been historically marginalized and made vulnerable,” said Dr. Nwando Olayiwola, chief health equity officer and senior vice president at Humana. “This unique collaboration with the University of Louisville and The Humana Foundation to create the Health Equity Innovation Hub is an exciting opportunity for Humana to partner with a leading research institution in our founding city where so many health disparities exist, establish shared goals and drive positive change beginning in local communities.”

Enabled by Humana and The Humana Foundation’s investment and support, the Hub will seek to develop solutions for health inequities in Louisville and globally. This includes the up-skilling and re-skilling of community members who have been underserved to provide a talent pipeline for Louisville’s significant concentration of major health care companies, thereby creating a pathway for family-sustaining jobs. The Hub will also conduct dedicated outcomes-based research on population and social health issues to derive a wide range of insights on how to mitigate health inequities and the adverse impacts of health-related social needs. In addition, the Hub will support diverse creators, innovators and entrepreneurs whose ideas can positively impact populations around the world that have historically been marginalized and underserved.

“UofL is a research powerhouse dedicated to making a positive impact on our world and addressing the challenges affecting the human condition,” said UofL Interim President Lori Gonzalez. “We are proud to work with Humana and The Humana Foundation to further health equity for all through this new Hub. Together, we can have a tangible impact that benefits our shared community and far, far beyond.”

UofL is among the top U.S. research institutions, holding the ’s��“Research 1” designation for doctoral universities with��very high research activity. In addition to being a Research 1 institution, UofL also holds the Carnegie community-engaged designation, which recognizes institutions that work with community partners to exchange knowledge and resources for public benefit. UofL is one of just 79 U.S. institutions to hold both designations.��

At UofL, the Hub is led by Dr. Monica Wendel, a renowned public health researcher with significant expertise in health equity. A national search is currently underway to fill the role of executive director. The Hub’s leadership team also includes Deputy Director Ben Reno-Weber, a seasoned tech entrepreneur who previously led the Microsoft Future of Work Initiative; Director of Community Engagement Ivory Rollins Cross, a Louisville native and community champion; and Director of Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship Natalia Bishop, who founded prominent Louisville co-working brand, Story Louisville.

“Everything affects our health, our health affects everything,” said Wendel,��professor��and��chair��of Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences in the UofL School of Public Health��and��Information Sciences.��“We all want to be healthy, but��the choices people make are the choices people have. In seeking to advance health equity, then, we have to change the choices people have. And we have that opportunity.”

The Hub also will create and collaborate with advisory boards, including national thought leaders, community organizations and local community residents who are passionate about improving social and health equity in their neighborhoods, as well as local business leaders and mentors from a diverse cross-section of the health equity ecosystem.��

The launch of the Hub will further UofL’s three strategic research priorities identified and launched in 2020, which include: Empowering our Communities, Advancing our Health and Engineering our Future Economy. The investment from Humana will advance the first challenge, Empowering our Communities, with a focus on promoting equity by engaging partners and strategically integrating research, innovation and training to address complex social and structural issues driving health inequity.

“These are huge challenges that will impact our world for years to come,” said UofL’s Executive Vice President for Research and Innovation Kevin Gardner. “Through this Hub and work with our partners at Humana and The Humana Foundation, UofL research and innovation will help empower those in our community — promoting equity, eliminating disparities and strengthening the ability of all individuals to achieve well-being and prosperity.”

The Hub’s mission also is well-aligned with Humana’s of advancing the health of the communities it serves by addressing social determinants of health and the health-related social needs for its members and communities.

UofL student-led teams are endeavoring to help some Louisville neighborhoods access understandable, useful information that might affect their health, specifically as it relates to air quality.

The project is one for the Public Health Literacy Group, a coalition of academic scholars, community leaders and activists focused on making the science of public health more accessible. The work recently got a $250,000 boost from the Humana Foundation as part of its ongoing Community Partners Program.

The team includes three UofL scholars – Megan Poole from English, Shavonnie Carthens from law and Abigail Koenig from business – who, with their students, have banded with District 3 Metro Councilwoman Keisha Dorsey, grassroots organization Rubbertown Emergency Action (REACT) and the nonprofit Kristy Love Foundation.

Dorsey’s western Louisville district includes several neighborhoods involved in environmental justice efforts related to air conditions stemming from large chemical plants and other industries in an area locally referred to as Rubbertown, named after tire and synthetic rubber plants built there during World War II.

The project began when Poole was invited to a western Louisville organization’s board meeting to explain how she has her students work with nonprofits and community groups on their writing projects to gain useful experience.

“I believe you learn best by doing, so I try to give them real-world assignments and real-world prompts,” Poole said. “And that’s also how you kind of learn the messiness of business.”

In the audience was Dorsey, who approached her afterward seeking help to translate information that comes out about air pollution into something that her constituents can potentially care about and understand.

Poole, still in her first year at UofL, turned the issue over to her “Writing for Social Change” class last spring. Her students decided there needed to be a website where this material could be housed, and they created infographics to make information more comprehensible.��

“They discovered there was no central hub to talk about the science of air pollution or file complaints or ask questions,” she said.

So now student workers under the direction of Koenig in the College of Business will be working on a website, testing with the community and handling the data analytics, trying to see how people engage with the material and how to increase their engagement.

Through Carthens, a legal writing intern from the Brandeis School of Law is helping work on the language of announcements and information in hopes of making legal notices more easily comprehendible as public health notices.

The Kristy Love Foundation, a survivor-led organization that helps women suffering from traumas including human trafficking and abuse, will help with community focus groups. Women there will be hired to help the team choose locations for the group meetings and to spread the word through canvassing the affected neighborhoods.

The team will rely on neighborhood involvement and serious listening to direct the way citizens want to receive their information, whether it be digitally, on paper or via other ways.

“It really is a community project. What do you know about air pollution? What do you want to know? How do you currently receive this information, if at all,” Poole said. “We feel like before you create information for a specific audience, you have to find out how they want the information.”

The team also will be relying on the longtime, justice advocacy work and knowledge of the REACT group.

At UofL Poole and the other faculty members involved let the students try new things and see what works best to meet community needs.

“They are using the skills they learn to really make a difference now, as opposed to hypothetically one day,” Poole said. “It helps them grapple with what work looks like in the real world. I’m excited about it.”