Philosophy and Goals

Guiding Philosophy

The Columbia Mailman School of Public Health Community Health Collaborative (CHEC) was launched in September 2024 as an initiative of Dean Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH, with Ana Jimenez-Bautista as the executive director, and Drs. Marcela Tamayo-Ortiz and Ying Wei as faculty leads.

CHeC supports Columbia Mailman School of Public Health’s goal to have an impact on service, education, and research.

CHEC facilitates community leaders’ engagement with school leadership, faculty, staff, and students to set public health goals and identify community strengths to accomplish these shared goals.

Goals

As CHEC works toward its goals, the interests, needs, and assets of the neighborhoods surrounding the school will become more deeply embedded in the fabric of the school.

Our Desired Impact is Threefold

Service

• Partner with the community to build effective and sustainable programs that address its priority health goals
• Uplift community members and organizations as they take control over the community’s public health processes
• Provide community members, faculty, staff, government, industry, and other schools with access to transformative public health processes

Education

• Enrich Columbia Mailman School students’ professional development through practice in the community
• Engage members of the community—including the next generation of scholars—in public health teaching and learning
• Spark innovation in the education of public health students and the faculty who teach them

Research

• Conduct scientifically strong research that authentically addresses the needs expressed by the community
• Share research results so that promising interventions reach the community quickly
• Garner more funding and access to public health benefits for the community by building a proven track record of interventions