Season 1, Episode 7: People, Place, and Purpose: Reimagining Health Equity with IRL

In this episode, you will meet Andriana Abariotes, who was an IRL partner (2016-2018) while at Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Twin Cities, then as IRL Co-Director through the end of 2020, and Bonnie Cluxton, who represented Academy Health also as IRL’s partner from the beginning until she retired in 2022. Both come from non-academic settings - Andriana is a practitioner with a deep connection and experience in community development, and Bonnie is a facilitator between research and practice. They discuss how RWJF was setting IRL out to be a fundamentally different model from their usual funding programs at that time, to be about translating research to action instead of research being the primary goal. They both agree on their appreciation of IRL trying to tread the balance between people and place in achieving health equity, and emphasize the importance of investing in human and social capital, and not just financial and physical capital. Take a listen to these two fabulous women’s stories!

Hosts: Krystal Lee, J. Robin Moon

Guest bios:

Andriana Abariotes is an executive leader in the non-profit and philanthropic sectors with over 25 years of experience in advancing public-private partnerships, supporting capital investment strategies, and enhancing organizational change, leadership development and creative problem solving for complex issues. While at the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), Andriana led over $250 million in investments in place- and people-based strategies to promote physical, economic, human and social capital development in neighborhoods and communities across the Twin Cities metro area. She also served as a senior advisor and Co-Director of the Interdisciplinary Research Leaders program. She currently serves on the board of directors for Springboard for the Arts. Andriana holds a B.A. from Macalester College and M.A. in Public Affairs from the University of Minnesota. In 2012, she was recognized as a Top Woman in Finance, and in 2014, she was selected as Bush Foundation Fellow to explore community health and advance innovative health partnerships.

Bonnie Cluxton retired in 2022 as a Vice President from AcademyHealth, one of the IRL partner organizations. She spent much of her 21 years at AcademyHealth conducting programmatic and grantmaking activities on a number of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation projects with an emphasis on facilitating the use of research in policy and practice.

Mentioned:

LISC Twin Cities

Alina Health MN

Academy Health

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You can find show notes, transcripts, and more episodes of “Promising Practices for Health Equity” at Promising Practices for Health Equity Podcast: Introduction - Interdisciplinary Research Leaders.

This episode of “Promising Practices for Health Equity” was produced by Studio Americana, and prepared by Cody Cotton, Mandy LaBreche, Krystal Lee, and J. Robin Moon of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Interdisciplinary Research Leaders Podcast Team.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit irlpodcast.substack.com