Wednesday April 29, 2026

4:00 pm | Bressler Research Building: Hosick Hall

Heart Wide Open: Community Driven Solutions 

Lena Hatchett, PhD

Associate Professor, Loyola University Chicago, Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Healthcare Leadership

Co-founder and Principal Investigator for Proviso Partners for Health

Deniene Willis

Executive Director of Trustycup Productions

Lead and Co-founder of the Community Leadership Academy, Proviso Partners for Health 

5:30 pm | Reception: Bressler Lobby adjacent to Hosick Hall

Please join us for coffee and dessert following the lecture. 

Join Us | Heart Wide Open: Community-Driven Solutions

The Program in Health Equity and Population Health invites you to Heart Wide Open: Community-Driven Solutions, a conversation highlighting how community leadership, participatory research, and shared power can advance health equity.

This event features Lena Hatchett, PhD, Associate Professor at Loyola University Chicago’s Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics and Healthcare Leadership and co-founder of Proviso Partners for Health, a nationally recognized community-led coalition working to create racial and economic pathways for equity. Dr. Hatchett brings extensive experience advancing community-based public health initiatives and systems change across national and local organizations.

Joining her is Deniene Willis, Executive Director of Trustycup Productions and co-founder of the Community Leadership Academy with Proviso Partners for Health. Through performing arts, storytelling, and leadership development, Ms. Willis empowers residents and youth to transform lived experience into collective action and community leadership.

Together, they will explore how community-driven approaches, participatory research, and strengths-based leadership can help build trust, share power, and create sustainable pathways toward equity.

Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on practical strategies for:
• Applying community-based participatory research principles in practice
• Using strengths-based approaches to guide community-engaged action
• Building trust and authentic partnerships with community collaborators
• Developing organizational practices that share power with communities
• Identifying community-engaged research methods that advance equity

Join us for a thoughtful discussion on what it means to keep our hearts wide open to community wisdom, lived experience, and collaborative solutions for healthier, more equitable communities.

Register Below!

Don't miss this opportunity to learn from a nationally recognized expert on community-based participatory research. 

Registration

Register now to join us on April 29th!