Cornell University Launches NIH-Funded Initiative to Investigate Health Disparities Among Rural Youth in New York

Access to healthcare among low-income rural youth stands as a pressing concern in the landscape of public health in rural New York. School-Based Health Centers (SBHC) have emerged as a promising solution to enhance healthcare accessibility, however, the specific impact of SBHCs in rural communities remains unknown. With new funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Cornell faculty will investigate how SBHCs are not only leaving a positive impact on students, but also on the wider community’s well-being and public services across four counties in upstate New York.

The project, “School-Based Health Centers – An approach to address health disparities among rural youth” is led by Sharon Tennyson, professor of public policy and economics; Mildred Warner, professor of city and regional planning and global development; John Sipple, professor of global development;  Elaine Wethington, professor emeritus of human development and sociology; and Xue Zhang, research associate in city and regional planning. The project is in collaboration with Jane Hamilton, RN, practice manager of Bassett Healthcare Network’s School-Based Health Program, and Wendy Brunner, director of the Center for Rural Community Health at Bassett Research Institute.