Murphy family gift addresses health inequities

Black residents of the City of Buffalo have a shorter life expectancy than their white counterparts. Couple this with a higher prevalence of common diseases and the result is poor health outcomes for this population of Erie County residents. Much of this health inequity results from social determinants—the conditions into which people are born, and in which they develop, live, work, play and worship.  

Addressing such health disparities is a top priority of the University at Buffalo and its cutting-edge Community Health Equity Research Institute, led by Timothy Murphy, a SUNY Distinguished Professor and senior associate dean for clinical and translational research in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.  

Established in 2019, the institute continues the work of the African American Health Equity Task Force, which was built on principles that engage the community as true partners in research.

Murphy stresses the importance of working in partnership with community members to address health disparities. “True partnership requires bidirectional relationships built on trust, mutual respect and cultural humility,” he says. “It is important...to move from viewing communities as people who have needs to recognizing them as [communities whose insights] can show researchers how to better address social determinants of health and increase the impact of research discoveries.”  

This important work will continue thanks to Timothy and his wife, Vicki, MS ’92, who recently made a $500,000 gift to fund pilot studies at the institute in addition to providing scholarship opportunities in mental health nursing.  

The scholarships in the School of Nursing are for nurse practitioner students who are focusing their careers on mental health. Vicki, a psychiatric nurse practitioner, has worked with children and adolescents with mental health needs for nearly three decades and knows firsthand about the lack of adequate mental health support for families and children in the area.

“Our region has a serious shortage of mental health care for children,” she says. “Nurse practitioners play an especially important role in working with children and families with mental health needs. The underserved communities in Buffalo are disproportionately impacted by this shortage.”

Scholarships will be awarded to nurse practitioner students focused on mental health with the stipulation that they work in Buffalo communities in need. This commitment strengthens the goal of improving health outcomes in urban communities.