REACH 2010: Engaging the Circle of Research and Practice to Eliminate Health Disparities: An Interview With Imani Ma’at

Abstract

The Circle of Research and Practice Department offers continuous insight to and between health promotion practitioners, community partners, and researchers. As stated often in this department, the commentaries offered here reflect our commitment to the essential connections between what we know, what we do, and what we learn in our health promotion efforts. Effective health promotion, both research and practice, has the potential to address some of the most complex questions of our time. It also has the ability to address the relationship between private troubles and public issues, offering strategies and interventions that influence the personal behaviors and structural determinants of health. In the effort to eliminate health disparities associated with race and ethnicity in the United States, health promotion research and practice are key partners. Our contribution to this important theme issue of Health Promotion Practice is a commentary based on an interview with Dr. Imani Ma’at, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) 2010 initiative. REACH 2010, and Dr. Ma’at’s insight into its potential, provide a vibrant example of the circle of research and practice and what can happen when the circle is engaged.