The Connections We Share

What Community Health Work Actually Is with Ma’ta Crawford

“If it’s not equal for one of us, it’s not equal for any of us.” Ma’ta Crawford, a Certified Community Health Worker, has never been able to leave her field of health equity work — she says there is always more work to be done.   She serves as a member of the HEAL (Health Equity Action Leadership) Board, a community-led advisory board supported by LiveWell Greenville and the Institute for the Advancement of Community Health at Furman University. The board is composed of diverse community leaders and residents who work to advance health equity and improve health outcomes across Greenville County. Through relationship-building, advocacy, and community engagement, the HEAL Board seeks to strengthen trust, build community capacity to influence larger systems, and elevate community voices in decision-making processes. In this episode, IACH Researcher Jody Teel sits down with Ma'ta to explore: * What makes the HEAL Board feel like a family to her  * Why she continues to show up for this work, even when it is difficult * Her favorite memories from working with her team Ma'ta shares her core values around learning from people with lived experience, building trust, and moving through life with an open mind while staying true to yourself.

The Power of Scaffolded Support: A Future PTs pathway with the IACH

At the IACH, we help students gain meaningful experiences in their fields that deepen their academic learning and ignite a passion for community health. In this episode, Health Careers Internship Coordinator Rebecca Haffen sits down with Will Hutson — a graduating senior Public Health major and Community Health Champion at Furman University — to talk about his journey in community health, hands-on internship experience at a physical therapy clinic, and his summer as an IACH Summer Fellow at Sustaining Way. Will shares how he connected his shadowing experience to his public health classes, and offers practical advice for Furman students looking to make the most of internship and fellowship opportunities.

The Connections We Share

Research suggests that the health risks associated with social isolation are comparable to those of smoking, obesity, and alcohol use, yet many modern communities are not structured to foster meaningful in-person interaction. In this episode, Dr. Kerry Sease is joined in the podcast studio by Risa Wilkerson, Executive Director of Healthy Places by Design. Together they discuss how Healthy Places By Design works to advance community-led, place-based strategies to strengthen social cohesion and explore practical ways to embed connection into the infrastructure of ev

CBPR Partners in Practice – Postdoc Perspectives

Even the best research can end up excluding the very communities it aims to serve. Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) is different — it’s rooted in collaboration and "power-sharing." Communities are a part of each step of the research process, and the partnership continues after the research concludes. Postdoctoral training coordinator Meghan Richmond talks to IACH Postdoctoral fellows Kinsey Meggett and Abass Babatunde to explore what CBPR actually is, and what it isn't. They’ll discuss how practicing CBPR at the IACH allows researchers to bring findings directly back to the community, creates opportunities for co-learning, and ultimately strengthens the quality of their findings.

Where Passion Meets Purpose: A Student’s Journey Toward Medicine

Neuroscience major Kadence Alexander brought her studies in neuroscience beyond the classroom by working with children at The Phoenix Center’s Serenity Place, a live-in treatment center for women with substance use disorder that provides on-site childcare. Her position helped breathe real life experiences into the content she was learning about in the classroom and inspired her to ask more questions in her upper-level psychology courses and lead a toy drive on campus for the children she works with. Rebecca Haffen, the Health Careers Internship Coordinator, first connected with Kadence when she was looking for an engaged learning opportunity to gain experience working with children on her journey to medical school and a possible future career as a pediatric ENT. In this episode, they chat about the takeaways from blending coursework with an internship, what made Kadence's experience personal, and the advice she offers her peers.