Beginning in 2024, the faculty and staff in the Department of Health Policy at VUMC and Meharry Medical College began a community-based research project aiming to survey residents of the mixed-income Envision Cayce redevelopment project in East Nashville and the impact of the area's revitalization on well-being and social lives of families living in Cayce. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the project will enable Nashville researchers to visit with individuals residents to "conduct a rigorous, equitable evaluation of anti-displacement housing redevelopment on social cohesion and health outcomes of Cayce families with low incomes." |  |
Leadership Team
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Kevin Griffith, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Policy and an Investigator at the Partnered Evidence-based Policy Resource Center at the Veterans Health Administration. He has worked in government at local, state, and federal levels, developed a lifelong commitment to encourage policies informed by research and evidence, and uses that evidence to improve incentive design and effectiveness of pay-for-performance programs. His research also focuses on improving access to care especially for our nation’s veterans, Medicaid policy, nursing scope of practice, and alternative payment models for prescription drugs. His work has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals including JAMA Internal Medicine, Health Affairs, or Diabetes Care, and has been covered more broadly by NPR, USA Today, Axios, or Bloomberg News. |
 | Rosemary Nabaweesi, MBChB, MPH, DrPH, is a physician scientist who currently holds the RWJF Chair for Health Policy and serves as an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health at the School of Graduate Studies, Meharry Medical College. She leads the academic and research priorities of the Center for Health Policy at Meharry. She heads the College’s expanded efforts to address the impact of trauma on African American communities through health policy, implementation science and community-engaged research. With more than 15 years’ experience in injury research addressing differences in health care outcomes in urban and rural communities, Dr. Nabaweesi’s work aims to close the societal and health differences in built (physical) and social environments of underserved African American communities. |
Project Partners
Metro Development and Housing Agency (MDHA)
MDHA is the housing authority in Nashville and Davidson County. MDHA employs nearly 350 staff members, has a budget of $167 million and houses approximately 30,000 people, primarily through nearly 8,000 Section 8 Vouchers and more than 6,700 apartments, primarily Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA), at 39 properties. Included among these 39 properties are six mixed-income developments that MDHA owns and manages featuring subsidized, workforce and market-rate housing. MDHA also oversees a Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT) program, which has helped create and preserve more than 8,800 affordable housing units in the city since its inception in 2016.
Martha O'Bryan Center
Martha O’Bryan Center, founded in 1894, is an anti-poverty nonprofit organization with longstanding history and deep community roots. Its headquarter campus sits in the East Nashville public housing campus of Cayce Place, currently transforming into the mixed-income neighborhood Boscobel Heights. This is where the center operates most of its programs, supporting education goals for learners of all ages, empowering youth and adults in their careers, and providing stability and support services for individuals and families. Martha O’Bryan Center also operates two public K-8 charter schools in East Nashville, and is co-located with partner agencies in several other centers and public schools as well. These are the places in Nashville where the center continues in service, partnering with families to open doors of hope and possibility, create a culture of attainment, and positively shape future generations.