CHER welcomes new associate director, Gaurav Dave
Gaurav Dave, MD, PhD, MPH, research assistant professor has been named Associate Director of The Center for Health Equity Research (CHER).
Gaurav Dave, MD, DrPH, MPH, is the new Associate Director for CHER. His long-standing collaborations with CHER faculty and his extensive experience with applied principles of community engagement and participatory research approaches in his evaluation practice, makes him the perfect addition to the center's leadership.
Dave is an expert in the field of formative and summative evaluation research, specializing in evaluating multi-level, complex initiatives, programs and interventions. He has more than 15 years of clinical and public health practice and evaluation experience. His research focuses primarily on hypertension and chronic diseases, integrating systems thinking in evaluation research.
He is the Director of Evaluation of the NIH-funded North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences (NC TraCS) Institute at UNC, which aims to accelerate clinical and translational research from health science to discovery to dissemination to patients and communities. He also co-directs the Systems Science and Evaluation Lab at UNC to foster the integration systems thinking and evaluation in biomedical, clinical, and public health research. He also serves as the Evaluation chair for HRSA's Southeast Regional Genetics Network at Emory University to improve health equity and health outcomes in individuals with genetic conditions, reduce morbidity and mortality caused by genetic conditions.
As the principal evaluator and investigator, Dave has worked on various federally and foundation-funded projects all over the U.S., including the Newborn Screening and Sickle Cell Disease Program, Heart Matters and Community Initiative to Eliminate Stroke. Dave has a medical degree from the University of Pune, India and worked as an emergency room physician in Mumbai, before coming to the U.S. in 2004. He attended the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and completed a Masters and a Doctorate in Public Health in 2006 and 2011 respectively, with a concentration in public health, community-based prevention research and evaluation. Dave's research interests include evaluation, systems science, and methods research to reduce disparities associated with chronic diseases and hypertension.
As CHER Associate Director, Dave will engage investigators, community stakeholders, and healthcare providers, to ensure that health equity research addresses health priorities. In his role, he will catalyze the dissemination of evidence-based practice for maximum impact across the state and nation.
Dave replaces Wizdom Powell, PhD, MPH, who has taken a new position at the University of Connecticut as the Director of the Health Disparities Institute. Powell has been an asset as a collaborator during her time as Associate Director at CHER, bringing to life a number of initiatives that will continue in the center.
