Community Wellness Lab (Comm Well)
Under the leadership of Earlise Ward, MD, PhD, the Comm Well lab focuses on developing and testing culturally adapted mental health interventions for underrepresented groups, including African American adults. Ward has designed a series of studies that provide crucial information about the need for culturally appropriate interventions. Comm Well has developed and experimentally verified one of the first effective culturally adapted depression interventions for African American adults.
As a researcher and licensed psychologist, Ward has witnessed the impact of mental health disparities among underrepresented groups. She has seen many African American patients struggle with a lack of access to mental health services, low availability of services in their communities, poor quality of care, and a lack of culturally responsive care. For these reasons, she has dedicated her career to reducing and eliminating mental health disparities.
Snapshot
Publications:
Earlise Ward’s NIH Bibliography
Our Work
- Diversifying the Biorepositories to Promote Clinical and Translational Research: aims to increase diversity in the biorepository at the University of Wisconsin–Madison Carbone Cancer Center to ensure the inclusion of underrepresented groups.
- The Wisconsin Research and Education Network (WREN): expanding research capacity in rural primary care clinics.
- Oh Happy Day Digital Connections: a phone app to increase access to depression treatment for African American adults with clinical depression.
- Cognitive Behavioral Faith-Based Depression Intervention for African American Adults (CB-FAITH): an effectiveness and implementation trial.