Monica Mitchell, PhD, is co-director of INNOVATIONS, a divisional and medical center program that consults with schools and nonprofit community agencies, including Head Start and the United Way, to conduct program evaluations and identify behavioral health resources for underserved children and families. Through this program, she engages in a number of community and public policy efforts.

INNOVATIONS in Community Research and Program Evaluation is a service at Cincinnati Children’s that offers a wide range of services to all levels of community agencies and community-based organizations. We provide program evaluation services and consultation, technical assistance and web-based data systems, grant-writing assistance and strategic planning and quality-improvement consultation.  Lori Crosby, PsyD, serves as co-director of INNOVATIONS.

For more information, visit the INNOVATIONS webpage.

Mitchell is a co-director of the University's Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) – Community Engagement Core.

Through the Community Engagement Core of the Center for Clinical and Translational Research at Cincinnati Children’s, we are implementing a number of education and training initiatives, including:

• Didactic and online training in community-based participatory research (CBPR) for AHC investigators, medical students and residents, graduate students and community members
• Expansion of existing quality-improvement training at Cincinnati Children’s, at affiliated institutions and in the community
• Implementation of the Community Leaders Institute to build organizational and community capacity that strengthens collaborative health research and outcomes

For more information, visit the Community Engagement Core website. 

Sickle Disease Projects − Our goal is to improve the quality of life, health and services for individuals and families living with sickle cell disease, while empowering them to actively participate in sickle cell disease-related projects.

• Treatment adherence. Mitchell is currently the principal investigator on a four-year NIH-funded study to assess and promote adherence, quality of life and family and social support in children with sickle cell disease and their parents / caregivers. 
• Modern methodologies. Mitchell was the co-investigator on a study using PhotoVoice methodology with children and adolescents with sickle cell disease. She is also a co-investigator on a study using social network analyses to examine where parents of children with sickle cell disease obtain health information about their children.

Diabetes and Obesity − Mitchell works with a number of community-based organizations such as the Nutrition Council to help them understand culturally relevant ways to conduct obesity assessments and interventions.

Mitchell works with the Child Policy Research Center on a number of projects and developed policy health briefs based on state level data about child and parent mental health needs, access and services.

For more information, visit the Child Policy Research Center, part of the Anderson Center.