The July 2025 supplement of Health Education & Behavior features a powerful collection of eight articles highlighting the innovative work of the T ransdisciplinary R esearch, E quity and E ngagement (TREE) Center at the University of New Mexico (UNM). Designated a Center of Excellence by the NIH, the TREE Center stands at the forefront of participatory team science aimed at eliminating health disparities through community-engaged, equity-focused research.
This special issue, titled Participatory Team Science in Action , documents how TREE has transformed health disparities research by integrating academic theory with traditional community knowledge. The articles explore a range of topics, from immigrant mental health and Latinx youth resilience to COVID-19 policy response and Tribal–academic partnerships.
Key highlights include:
TREE’s interdisciplinary model aligns with the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) framework and emphasizes co-leadership, cultural relevance, and systems-level change. It mobilizes more than 300 community partners through statewide networks and supports scholars with $763,000 in pilot project funding.
As the supplement underscores, TREE’s approach is both timely and vital—particularly in an era when diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts face increasing resistance. This issue offers a blueprint for how collaborative, culturally centered research can lead to lasting public health impact.
The TREE Center and its partners continue to push the boundaries of health disparities research, working with and for communities to co-create solutions rooted in equity, resilience, and shared knowledge.
Health Education & Behavior
Survey
People
Community-Engaged, Participatory Team Science: The TREE Center’s Impact on Health Disparities Research and Health Equity
23-Jul-2025
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported in part by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (Grant No. 5U54MD004811-10 and R01MD007712), the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH127733), the National Institute of Nursing Research (1R01NR015241), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (OT2HL158287), and the William T. Grant Foundation’s Reducing Inequality Grant, “Reducing Ethnoracial Inequality: A Prosecutor-Led Community-Based Diversion Program for Juveniles and Young Adults.” The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing the official policies, either expressed or implied, of the NIH, affiliated academic institutions, or organizations.