In 2021, The Judy and Peter Blum Kovler Foundation, working with the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), established a fellow for the Community Engagement Alliance (CEAL) Against COVID-19 Disparities initiative, a NIH-wide effort led by the National Institute on Minority Health Disparities (NIMHD) and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institutes (NHLBI). CEAL works to dispel misinformation and build trust in many racial/ethnic minority and underserved communities about COVID-19, clinical trials, vaccines and science in general.
The Kovler Foundation Intramural Fellow will contribute to the mission and objectives of the CEAL by working with NIH staff and appropriate Research teams to develop and conduct direct community outreach and Education activities.
Following a national search and highly selective competition, Gargya Malla, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D. was selected for this prestigious honor. Dr. Malla recently completed her Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. For one year beginning in September 2021, she has been working within NIMHD’s Intramural Program to:
- Engage with and leverage the NIMHD intramural program Research, taking advantage of opportunities to conduct Research on COVID-19, and
- Focus on outreach, Education, and engagement with community-based organizations and key stakeholders to support the science and dissemination of Research and best practices in addressing minority health and health disparities.
The NIMHD Intramural Program creates strategic transdisciplinary Research collaborations to conduct cutting-edge minority health and health disparities Research. In partnership with other NIH Institutes and Centers, as well as external entities, NIMHD leverages expertise around social determinants of health, social-behavioral sciences, population epidemiology, genetics, digital interventions, and mechanisms of health disparities.