Research & Service

Community Health Empowerment

Armed with data that revealed immunization rates in upper Manhattan were an alarming 13 percent below the national average, Sally Findley, PhD, professor of clinical Population and Family Health and clinical Sociomedical Sciences, launched the Northern Manhattan Start Right Coalition, a group of 23 local organizations dedicated to raising the immunization rates of children living in Harlem and Washington Heights. This unique program embeds immunization promotion within the activities of the coalition’s local organizations, empowering community health workers and parents to effect real change.

Since Start Right’s inception in 2002, more than 10,000 children have been immunized, sharply raising the immunization rate in these neighborhoods from 57 to 97 percent - matching the national average. “Not only are children receiving life-saving immunizations,” says Dr. Findley, “but we have also successfully inserted a community immunization program directly into the healthcare system, creating a sustainable model.”

To learn much more about the Mailman School’s work in urban health as well as in its other areas of focus, please access our Aspirations publication.