Natalia Rodriguez: Using Engagement-Based Research to Drive Impactful Results in Communities
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A partnership between higher education institutions and the surrounding communities creates opportunities for learning and growth. It is one of the most profound aspects of incorporating engagement into academia. With engagement, as well as research and teaching, education becomes more enriching. As a land-grant institution, Purdue University always strives to reach further than ever before and produce individuals who will lead the world to a better tomorrow based on these principles of enriching education.
One such individual who executes all these principles in her work at Purdue University is Dr. Natalia Rodriguez. Her commitment to an engagement-based approach to teaching and research is discussed below. The Power of Engagement Profiles feature societal impacts that strengthen trust, build capacity, and increase the university’s relevance among the larger community.
Learn more about the Office of Engagement’s Protocol and Framework.
A Foundation for Research
Dr. Natalia Rodriguez is an associate professor with the College of Health and Human Sciences in the Department of Public Health. Additionally, she has a courtesy appointment with the College of Engineering in the Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering. Since her time at Purdue University, beginning back in August of 2019, Rodriguez has aspired for her research to be a vehicle for social justice. The research she pursues focuses on communities that suffer the most from health disparities. By working directly with the people in these marginalized and underserved communities, she is more equipped with helping them identify key issues that need solutions.
“I believe they are the ones who best understand their needs.
Dr. Natalia Rodriguez
Rodriguez utilizes this philosophy in the classroom as well as her research. She works to teach students to think critically about their research and how their own perspectives and biases can impact the process. Because research depends on a variety of factors – conceptualizing/designing studies, who is included, the kinds of data that is chosen to be collected – Rodriguez wants her students to know they have a responsibility to make sure the conclusions drawn and the stories told based on their findings are meaningful and representative to those they are striving to help.
Partnerships that Carry Out Results
Along with making sure the research is accurate to who it is benefitting, Rodriguez works to make solutions happen for issues that are highly preventable. Her current research focuses on the critical barriers to cervical cancer screening that people in the homeless community face. Within this community, there is a higher number of cases and death compared to the general housed population in the United States. The more vulnerable communities are the ones left to suffer the consequences of cervical cancer. Addressing this issue quickly and effectively is important to Rodriguez because this type of cancer is completely preventable.
To combat these challenges, Rodriguez has partnered with Indiana homeless shelters, community health workers, and medical providers who serve homeless populations. Together, they are working to identify the barriers between people experiencing homelessness and cervical screening practices. Some of the interventions they are conducting to address these barriers are community health worker-delivered education, navigation to care, and offering self-sampling. The long-term goal for each party involved is to increase cancer screening and preventative healthcare delivery for people experiencing homelessness and to improve health outcomes for this marginalized community.;
Seeing the real-world impact of their findings result in these interventions is the most exciting part of this process for Rodriguez.
“We are only able to do this because of our strong community-academic partnerships and committed partners who are equally invested in our research and are committed to taking everything we learn to improve the lives of their clients.
Dr. Natalia Rodriguez
The Impacts of Community-Based Research
Overcoming barriers for cervical cancer health-related services is only Rodriguez’s most recent engagement project. She has been working in this community-academic partnership with homeless service agencies since she started at Purdue University. Throughout the years, there have been a variety of topics that they have studied. Because the partnership began in 2020, one major event that was looked at was COVID-19 and pandemic preparedness. Since then, it has expanded to women’s health and cancer screening. This partnership has led to many research grants, with at least 25% of all grant funding going directly to the community partners. Additionally, there have been many presentations at conferences and even publications. Check out Natalia’s profile to learn more about her work and recent news.
Future Goals for Natalia Rodriguez
The work is never complete for Natalia Rodriguez. Apart from the research, Rodriguez believes that volunteering and making donations to the local homeless shelters is an important aspect of engagement. In partnership with the community organizations she has worked with, she will continue making routine preventative healthcare a reality in homeless shelters. Furthermore, they will keep learning from the participatory research they are conducting, and making adjustments as needed, always guided by the community and their needs.
For more information on how to volunteer or donate to the local homeless shelters, visit LTHC Homeless Services website.