The 2026 Community Engagement and Primary Care Convocation held on Tuesday, April 14th brought together approximately 200 attendees for an evening of collaboration, learning, and community engagement. The event featured an inspiring keynote address by Dr. Maida Galvez, five interactive workshop sessions, over 50 poster presentations, and participation from more than 12 local community-based organizations. We are incredibly grateful to all sponsors, presenters, partners, and attendees who helped make this year’s Convocation such a meaningful success.
The Paul Meissner Honorarium Keynote Address
Building Bridges and Working Together: Research at the Intersection of Primary Care and Community Engagement
Presented by Dr. Maida Galvez, MD MPH, Professor at Icahn School of Medicine
Montefiore residency graduate, Dr. Maida Galvez is a pediatrician dedicated to advancing children’s environmental health through clinical care, research, and advocacy. She is a Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and Director of the New York State Children’s Environmental Health Center (NYSCHECK), the nation’s first statewide model of its kind. In her work as Director of Community Engagement for both the NIEHS funded Mount Sinai Center for Health Across the Lifespan (HEALS) and NIH funded Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program at Mount Sinai Conduits, Dr. Galvez works to center community in all stages of research and translate emerging research into programs and policies that prevent and reduce environmental exposures for children, their families, and their communities.
Watch Dr. Galvez's Keynote Speech
| WATCH SESSIONS A |
A1: Research in Action: Examples of Community–Academic Partnerships
This session will feature presentations from community-academic research teams highlighting real-world examples of community-engaged research. Speakers will describe how partnerships were formed, how community voices shaped the work, and key lessons learned from implementation. Emphasis will be placed on practical insights and the impact of collaboration on research relevance and outcomes. |
A2: Community-Engaged Research in Practice
This panel discussion brings together researchers and community partners to discuss the realities of conducting community-engaged research across diverse settings. Panelists will reflect on building trust, sharing power, navigating challenges, and sustaining meaningful partnerships. The discussion will offer actionable guidance for investigators, trainees, clinicians, and community members interested in advancing equitable, community-centered research.
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| WATCH SESSIONS B |
B1: Building Trust Together: Co-Designing a Learning Health Care Community in the Bronx
Join us for an interactive workshop on building trust through community engagement. Together, we will explore best practices in trust-building, discuss the Bronx Community Health Needs Assessment data, and examine how a Learning Health Care Community can strengthen partnerships between communities, health systems, and researchers. Participants will help shape guiding principles for collaborative research at Montefiore-Einstein, and learn about opportunities to get involved through service learning, pathway programming, and other engagement activities.
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B2: Community in Action: Partner Perspectives and Projects Shaping a Learning Health Care Community
This interactive workshop will showcase how Montefiore-Einstein and community partners are working together to improve health and advance research that matters to the Bronx. Featuring highlights from NYC CONNECT, BRAID, The Bronx Health Link, and ARCH, as well as a panel of community partners, the session will explore how shared learning and collaboration can strengthen a Learning Health Care Community. Participants will also learn how to join the Montefiore-Einstein network and stay involved in future community engagement opportunities.
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| WATCH SESSION C |
Establishing Primary Care Priorities
This one-hour session will bring together primary care physicians, nurses, and administrators from MMG clinics throughout the Bronx. Participants will share frontline perspectives on real-world primary care challenges and identify the most important topics to address, guiding new research that is relevant to patients, clinicians, and communities.
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Special Thank You to our Event Sponsors and Community Partners your support and contributions are essential to advancing primary care, and community-driven research.
- Department of Family and Social Medicine(DFSM)
- Institute for Clinical and Translational Research at Einstein and Montefiore (ICTR)
- Office of Research and Sponsored Programs
- Montefiore Care Management Organization (CMO)
- Paul Meissner Memorial Fund
- Anti-Racism Community Collaborative in Healthcare
- African Services Committee
- Bronx Regional Health Information Organization
- CRAVE!
- Health People
- Mount Vernon Power
- New Testament Temple Church of God
- The Bronx Health Link
- The Fortune Society
- Good Neighbors Community Outreach Agency
- WHEDco
- United Church of Jesus Christ
Past Events
Convocation Day 2024
On October 29th, approximately 150 attendees representing a diverse range of disciplines, specialties, and organizations gathered for the 2024 NYC RING Convocation of Practices. Each of the 43 presentations showcased meaningful work to improve health outcomes and patient care delivery in the Bronx and greater New York City communities. These presentations provided valuable insights into the complex challenges we face and offered potential pathways to impactful solutions.
Thank you to all who participated in making Convocation Day a success. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the formation of NYC RING! Click below to view the photo gallery.
![2024 NYC RING collage]()
Gallery
