Dr. Raja Staggers-Hakim, Executive Director

Dr. Staggers-Hakim is responsible for ensuring the delivery of goals and objectives established by appointed commissioners in order to create a model of collaboration for health equity in the state of Connecticut.The director reports directly to the Chair of the Commission on Health Equity. The primary role of the director is to work with the five established committees to ensure the development of goals and objectives and the timely completion of activities set forth by the commission. The director is responsible for oversight of several aspects of the Health Commission including:

(1)   Working with the Public Voice Committee to connect the commission to the public and community through developing and maintaining the CoHe website, hosting community-level information sessions; developing promotional campaigns; implementing training for health professionals on cultural competence;

(2)   Working with the data analysis committee to develop tools to evaluate health professional trainings and health information delivered to the public; establish a health equity data clearinghouse with state agencies, community partners, and academic institutions; continuously monitor data to measure directional changes to health disparity / health inequity trends;

(3)   Work with the policy committee to collect and assess the policies of state agencies around health equity and to establish or adapt health equity compliance standards for agencies and grantees of the state of Connecticut; develop policy briefs on emerging health disparities;

(4)   Work with the resource development committee to design a business plan and to solicit funding to sustain the commission; apply to several funding streams with universities and community partners to advance health disparity research and to support community health initiatives and cultural competency training for health professionals;

(5)   Work with the Legislative Committee to offer testimony on behalf of the commission about the status of health concerns based on race-ethnicity, linguistic ability, gender, and income; produce two legislative briefings on emerging health issues;

(6)   Build and maintain relationships with legislators, state agencies, community partners and academic institutions.