Assistant Professor
Heatherlun Uphold, PhD, translates research into practice by utilizing dissemination and implementation science and integrating novel strategies into the discipline of public health. She is specifically interested in reducing the research-to-practice gap through audience-centered methods of message distribution. Further research interests include the elimination of health disparities through community-engaged research, and normalizing data disaggregation to identify disparities.
Uphold is the Academic co-lead for the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD)-funded Flint Center for Health Equity Solutions’ (FCHES) Consortium Core (NIMHD; #U54MD011227). The FCHES is a Transdisciplinary Collaborative Center whose mission is to develop and implement health equity-driven, action-oriented research that is collaborative, transdisciplinary, and translational. A critical component to the FCHES is its foundation of community-engaged research through community-academic partnerships. The Consortium Core illustrates this commitment through partner organization engagement and a focus on collaboratively distributing and integrating evidence-based practices.
An honorary “Flint Kid,” Uphold grew up in her mother’s classroom on the city’s eastside and received both her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Flint. It is this experience, combined with the opportunity to work with leading public health experts, that brought her back to Flint to make a difference in her community.
