News & Insights|Event
Practicing Community Engagement in a Learning Health System
April 9, 2026
Research Areas
Topics
Excerpt
Practicing Community Engagement in a Learning Health System
Presented by Penn PORTAL for Health Equity Week 2026
Heather Klusaritz, PhD, MSW
Moderator
Dr. Klusaritz is the Division Chief for Community Health in the Department of Family Medicine & Community Health and the Director of Community Health Services at Penn Medicine’s Center for Health Equity Advancement.
Our panelists include the following Penn PORTAL Scholars:
Arina Chesnokova, MD, MPH, MSHP, MSCP
LHS Scientist Investigator
Dr. Chesnokova is an Assistant Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, a physician at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, and an LDI Senior Fellow. She is interested in midlife and menopause care with a focus on eliminating disparities in obstetrics and gynecology and uplifting underserved communities. Her project is titled, “Advancing Menopause Care: Investigating Barriers and Implementing Solutions for Menopausal Hormone Therapy Prescribing.”
Rebecca Clark, PhD, RN
Affiliate Scholar
Dr. Clark is an Assistant Professor of Nursing in Family and Community Health where she is core faculty at the Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research, the nurse scientist at Pennsylvania Hospital, and an LDI and PISCE Senior Fellow. She is passionate about transforming inpatient maternity care to improve birth outcomes and furthering health equity by developing and implementing systemic interventions. Most of her recent work involves community engagement, including research on communication challenges in inpatient maternity care using incident reports, and a video reflexive ethnographic study conducted with nurses and patients.
Stephanie Van Decker, MD, MS
LHS Clinician Leader
Dr. Van Decker is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, Clinical Lead of General Pulmonology, and a Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Core Faculty for the Internal Medicine Residency Program. She is committed to addressing language barriers for limited English proficiency (LEP) patients and improving healthcare delivery for underserved and socioeconomically complex patient populations. Her project is titled, “Enhancing Equitable and Consistent Access to Language Services to Patients at Penn Medicine.”