Ronnie Wimberley
Bass Connections
On December 1-3, the Juntos team presented their research at the Minority Health and Health Disparities Grantees’ Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. I attended the conference along with Carla Mena, a DGHI researcher on the Juntos team, and two of our partners at El Centro Hispano that run the community center’s LGBTQ initiatives. The conference was attended by several hundred researchers and presented a fantastic opportunity to network amongst other researchers interested in minority health.
During the conference, Carla and I were able to present the poster of the Juntos research findings. We were met with incredible curiosity and interest in our project. We were one of just a few research projects represented that dealt explicitly with the intersections of race, sexuality, and gender. Our team was able to discuss methods, findings, and even ideas about moving forward with the project.
The technology-savvy approach that Juntos employs also garnered a lot of attention from fellow researchers. As we talked about the development of a website as our means of intervention, we were met with both intrigue and hope. Other researchers appreciated the exportability of such an intervention to a community not well served by American health and social systems. It seems like Juntos can make big waves in the minority research community. The Bass Connections initiative at Duke also generated considerable interest. I can’t count the number of times I was met with a bewildered look at the question, “You’re only an undergrad?”
Given that this was my first time formally presenting research findings, I was almost more surprised at that question than they were! Having the privilege of being a student at such an established research institution had me convinced that this was business as usual; but having now been to the conference, I can see what an exceptional opportunity this kind of research is for someone my age.
I’m very excited about the future of Juntos, but I’m also extremely impressed with what we’ve accomplished already. We’ve focused on an interesting topic, and taken to addressing a big problem with the resources we have. The ingenuity and passion that I’ve seen working in this project has truly been transformative, and I can’t wait to see where it goes in the future.
