INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY WELL-BEING
Network
Leadership
NETWORK CO-LEADS
Michael Spencer, PhD
Presidential Term Professor
University of Washington
mspenc@uw.edu
Karina Walters, PhD
Professor
University of Washington
kw5@uw.edu
WORKING GROUPS
Population Health through
Community and Settings-Based
Research and Practice
Strengthening Health Care Systems:
Better Health Across America
Reducing and Preventing Alcohol
Misuse and Its Consequences
LOOKING BACK
During the past five years, members of the Close the Health Gap Grand Challenge
network and their colleagues have engaged in a variety of activities . They have:
• Promoted Indigenous and culturally
grounded, place-based research in health
and well-being through publications
and presentations
• Expanded the network of Indigenous health
researchers through innovative academic
preparatory programs
• Delivered numerous presentations at the
Society for Social Work & Research and other
conferences, as well as a webinar for the
National Association of Social Workers
• Participated in a consensus study on
"Integrating Social Care into the Delivery of
Health Care: Moving Upstream to Improve the
Nation's Health" by the National Academies
of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
• Published three concept papers on
combatting alcohol misuse, promoting health
equity, and strengthening health care systems
• Contributed to special issues of the Journal
of Social Work Practice in the Addictions,
the Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Diversity
in Social Work, and Human Biology as well
as an issue of the International Journal of
Alcohol and Drug Research
• Wrote an editorial on "The Case for a
National Health Social Work Practice-Based
Research Network in Addressing Health
Equity" in Health & Social Work
• Testified before the House Committee
on Education and the Workforce about
expanding access to substance abuse
disorder treatment
• Briefed federal legislators on "When a Good
Life Depends on Federal Policy," "Addressing
the Crisis in Older Adult Mental Health," and
"Is Treating Depression the Answer to Solving
the Opioid Crisis?"
• Advocated for the inclusion of social workers
in responding to the opioid crisis
LOOKING AHEAD
During the next five years, members of the Grand Challenge to Close the Health Gap
network and their colleagues plan to:
• Collaborate with other Grand Challenges, particularly Create Social Responses to a Changing
Environment, Reduce Extreme Economic Inequality, and Eliminate Racism, to address issues
that impact health and health equity
• Continue to advocate for their policy recommendations:
1. Focus on settings-based research and interventions to improve the conditions of daily life
2. Advance community empowerment and advocacy for sustainable health solutions
and prevention
3. Cultivate health innovation in primary care and community-based centers
4. Promote access to health care and insurance for all
5. Foster development of an interprofessional health workforce
6. Develop a global health policy agenda on reducing alcohol misuse
• Continue to challenge structural racism, settler colonialism, white supremacy, and racial
capitalism and their adverse impact on our biosocial complex
• Identify leadership for the working group on Strengthening Health Care Systems and grow
the working group on Population Health more strategically
An Impact Report at Year 5 of the 10-Year Initiative | 13