Excellence in Practice Staff Award: Barbara Israel

Barbara Israel, professor of Health Behavior and Health Education, has been selected as the 2023 recipient of the Excellence in Practice Award.

Israel is  regarded as a pioneer in the conceptualization and development of community-based participatory research approaches to public health education, research and intervention.

The community-based participatory research approach focuses on the production, interpretation and dissemination of research findings with community partners in ways that emphasize power-sharing and co-learning. It is effective at developing programs and policies that benefit the community.

“Barbara has played a critical role in advancing a unique and distinctive research program: community-based participatory research,” said Director of Public Health Practice Laura Power. “She is one of a handful of researchers who have been successful at maintaining a viable and active long-term CBPR program.”

In 1995, Israel founded the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center (Detroit URC). The Detroit URC is a collaboration of representatives from multiple Detroit organizations and academic researchers from the University of Michigan who work together to foster health equity in the city of Detroit. It is one of the longest-running and strongest CBPR partnerships in the country.

Israel and the Detroit URC team have secured over $45 million in federal and foundational grants, hired over 400 Detroit residents as research and intervention team members, and have developed hundreds of community-friendly reports on research findings.

“Perhaps most notable is that throughout all of these endeavors, Dr. Israel has spent countless hours meeting with partners in Detroit, learning about community strengths and concerns, and developing equitable relationships where researchers have, understandably, been met with skepticism in the past,” said chair of the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education Cleopatra Caldwell.

Israel’s colleagues admire her dedication to both the field of public health and the local communities she works with.

“Dr. Israel’s leadership in developing, sustaining and engaging both academic and community-based organizations has not only enhanced public health capacity, but also positively impacted workforce development at both the University and metro Detroit communities,” said J. Ricardo Guzman, a founding member of the Detroit URC and colleague of Israel.

Israel is actively involved in several CBPR partnerships and projects examining multifaceted public health issues such as the environmental triggers of childhood asthma and strategies for reducing them, the social and physical environmental determinants of cardiovascular disease, and the impact of physical activity interventions on heart health.