About
Susan Racine Passmore, PhD, is an assistant professor in the School of Nursing who serves as the co-lead for CCHE’s “Just Research” program, along with Gina Green-Harris at the Center for Community Engagement and Health Partnerships. Dr. Passmore is also an affiliate of the UW-Madison Institute for Diversity Science. She is a former CCHE Senior Scientist and Senior Associate Director for Community Engaged Research.
She brings to her roles significant experience in community engaged research, health equity and the promotion of research equity. Dr. Passmore leads the UW Building Trust (BT) Initiative, a research support component of UW ICTR, designed to build the capacity of both researchers and members of underrepresented communities to work together. As a cultural anthropologist and mixed methods researcher, Dr. Passmore’s scholarly work focuses upon the social construction of trust and the practical application of this knowledge to create innovative approaches for building researcher “trustworthiness.” This is the foundation of an R21 from National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI 1 R21 MD015130), Feasibility of an Innovative Method to Understand the Dynamics of Choice and Create Diversity in Genomics Research among Older African Americans as well as a supplement award from the National Institute on Aging (P30AG062715-02S1), Maximizing Components of Trustworthiness in the Decision to Participate Preclinical Alzheimer’s Disease Research Involving Lumbar Puncture.
Dr. Passmore’s work also includes study of innovative approaches to community engagement. Her work with Dr. Stephen B. Thomas in Black barbershops and salons is the subject of a chapter in Meredith Minkler’s 4th edition of Community Organization and Community Building for Health and Welfare. Other community engagement work includes service-based approaches and the use of human-centered design to support adoption of health interventions.
Dr. Passmore received the 2022 ACTS Award for Contributing to the Diversity and Inclusiveness of the Translational Workforce. **Video**