Summer is usually a time students and faculty use as a break to decompress, relax, then begin to prepare for the upcoming fall semester. For many VCU students, they use it as a time to focus on research. This summer, over 50 student researchers and faculty with the VCU Center on Health Disparities (COHD) held their annual research training retreat at VCU Rice Rivers Center.

 COHD was established in 2005, and its mission is to reduce health disparities and improve health across the Commonwealth through facilitating research, training a diverse and competent workforce, and transforming disparate communities through community engagement and outreach initiatives. As a University Center, faculty from the Monroe Park and VCU Health Campus make up the members within COHD. Students supported by COHD training programs are focused on careers in Biomedical and Behavioral Sciences.

 Martin K. Safo, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Medicinal Chemistry at the VCU School of Medicine, was the opening keynote speaker. His presentation, "Quest for a Functional Cure: My Journey and Innovations in Sickle Cell Disease Drug Discovery," touched on the human side of how he became interested in the sciences. He described growing up with autism in Ghana, having to repeat third grade, and being told numerous times he could not succeed. Safo didn’t allow any challenges to get in the way of his goals, leading him to develop groundbreaking treatments as an internationally-recognized researcher in Sickle Cell Disease.

 The day included teambuilding activities facilitated by VCU RecWell's Outdoor Adventure Program, peer-mentoring, and career development conversations.

 Other presenters included:

Jakob Green, Ph.D., Institutional Research and Academic Career Development Awards (IRACDA) Fellow
"Traumatic Brain Injury, Alzheimer's Disease and NLRP3"

 Virgie Fields, M.S., CPH, CIC, Initiative for Maximizing Student Development I MSD B.S) Undergraduate Alumni 
B.S. 2013 VCU Biomedical Engineering, 2015 Harvard Public Health
“Experiences that Impacted My Public Health Career Journey”

 Gladys Shaw, Ph.D., IMSD Ph.D. Alumni
"Beyond Academia"

 The day was closed by Ed Crawford, Ph.D., deputy director of Rice Rivers Center. After sharing the land acknowledgment of the ground the Rice Rivers Center now sits on, Dr. Crawford shared the breadth of research conducted at the center. He spoke to the group about the intersection of the environment and public health and how they complement each other in ways many people aren’t aware of. Dr. Crawford’s presentation was the perfect segue to the group discussion of One Health, a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach that focuses on how human health is entwined with the health of animals and our shared environment.

“Watching our students learn about the history of the Rice Rivers Center and how it intersected with their lives was moving,” states Sarah Golding, Ph.D., COHD program director, and associate professor and director of undergraduate research in VCU Department of Biology.  “They heard firsthand how the river, air, and ecosystems tie into human health issues they are interested in solving. VCU students are deeply committed to addressing disparities they see in their world, and their experience at Rice Rivers Center this summer gave them another view on how to solve those problems through research.”