Creating Communities that Care and Promote Health: Learning from Japan and the U.S.

Community partnerships shape health outcomes long before a patient walks into a clinic. Researchers from Japan will visit the University of Iowa (UI) and, alongside U.S. based health care professionals, will share how their work is improving health and well-being through community-based approaches, from suicide prevention in schools to addiction treatment in primary care and brain health for older adults.

This event is free and open to the public, will take place in person on the UI campus, but will also be available to join virtually via Zoom. Pre-registration is required to join via Zoom.

Zoom link to access the event: https://uiowa.zoom.us/j/93364258210

Register for event reminders: https://international.uiowa.edu/world-cafe-event-reminder-sign

The event features three Japan-based researchers alongside Dr. Andrea Weber, clinical associate professor of psychiatry and clinical associate professor of internal medicine in the UI Carver College of Medicine. Presentations will be followed by a Q&A and informal exchange of ideas.

Dr. Kenji Kawano, a professor in the College of Comprehensive Psychology at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto, Japan, studies suicide prevention, suicide survivor support, and stigma reduction. Their presentation will examine efforts to implement suicide prevention interventions in Japanese schools and the challenges that accompany them.

Dr. Ethan Sahker (PhD counseling psychology ‘19), a UI alumnus and currently a junior associate professor in the Graduate School of Medicine at Kyoto University in Kyoto, Japan, will speak to improving addiction treatment access and reducing the treatment gap through primary care screening and brief intervention focused on community-based motivational factors. His research focuses on addiction treatment clinical epidemiology, and primary care intervention development to improve treatment access for the underprivileged and underserved.

Joining virtually, Ai Iizuka, a geriatrician researcher at the Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Geriatrics and Gerontology in Itabashi, Japan, will discuss using the Japanese board game “Go” to promote brain health among older adults in the U.S. Iizuka previously conducted dementia risk reduction research in Iowa City as a visiting scholar in the UI Department of Community and Behavioral Health. Her research focuses on leisure activity and cognitive functioning of older adults, and she has been conducting clinical trials to test interventions to improve cognitive functioning among older adults.

Dr. Andrea Weber, clinical associate professor of psychiatry and clinical associate professor of psychiatry and internal medicine in the UI Carver College of Medicine, will present, Revive Care Iowa: Treating Substance Use Disorders in Advanced Liver and Cardiac Disease. Dr. Weber is board certified in internal medicine, psychiatry, and addiction medicine and specializes in providing medical and psychiatric health care to people who use drugs. She is also the assistant director of the UI Addiction and Recovery Collaborative (UI ARC) within the Department of Psychiatry and currently represents psychiatry on the Iowa Medical Cannabis Board. Dr. Weber has been the principal investigator on four federal grants focused on novel training and healthcare delivery systems for people with substance use disorders.

The event is co-sponsored by International Programs and the College of Public Health.

Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa–sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Sato Ashida in advance at 319-384-1477 or [email protected].