Research has always been my creative outlet
Katherine Diaz Vickery, MD, is a Physician-Investigator in Health, Homelessness, & Criminal Justice Lab; she is the Hennepin Health Research Institute (HHRI) Vice President of Engagement; and the Medical Director for Hennepin County Health Care for the Homeless.
Tell us about yourself?
I grew up in the Twin Cities in a big Irish and Mexican family. I attended the University of Notre Dame for my undergraduate studies. I pursued a post-baccalaureate pre-medical program at Bryn Mawr College, and went to University of Rochester in New York for my Doctor of Medicine. After my family medicine residency at Allina’s United Family Physicians, I went to University of Michigan for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Clinical Scholars fellowship. My spouse and I have 2 children and 2 dogs and we live in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Why did you pursue your current career?
Research has always been my creative outlet where I can partner with people to redesign parts of health care to work better.
Why is health equity important to you?
Seeing patients at Health Care for the Homeless each week shows me how much work we have to do to bring health to all people. This keeps me motivated to pursue health equity work.
What has been your experience in the C2DREAM Pilot Grant Scholars program? How has this impacted you?
Being in the C2DREAM Pilot Grant Scholars program has been a great opportunity to learn from mentors and other scholars. I’ve appreciated the funding and comradery.
My project title during the Pilot Grant Scholars Program is, “Development of a multiple health behavior change intervention for Cardiovascular risk reduction among people experiencing homelessness: the CV-HOMES study.”
A summary of the work is the CV-HOMES study will develop a multiple health behavior change coaching program to lower cardiovascular (CV) risk among people who have experienced a key social risk resulting from structural racism, and unstable housing. For my project, we worked with our community-engaged research team to adapt a wellness coaching program to meet the needs of people who have been homeless with elevated cardiovascular risk. We conducted qualitative research, developed a program we call CV-HOMES, and tested the program in an open trial with 7 participants.
What are you working on currently?
I am currently setting up my first fully powered randomized controlled trial (R-01 award). We will be comparing wellness coaching to brief education for people with type 2 diabetes who have been homeless and who speak English or Spanish. We are also working on writing up several papers about our CV-HOMES work and writing grants to fund work to scale up our wellness coaching program.
