Workplace and Community Engagement Making a difference, here and now
We welcome you to join our efforts to improve Workplace and Community Engagement. This committee is open to anyone from the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics (HOBI).
For Pediatrics Center
Book Drive
During National Reading Month in March 2025, we successfully collected nearly 300 books for the Read Across America Book Drive, in collaboration with UF Health's Pediatrics CMS Center. This achievement wouldn’t have been possible without the impressive efforts and generous donations from our faculty, staff, and students.
News & Events
Monkey surprises The Villages team with holiday…
“I am very proud of all the great things our department and center do for the communities we serve ♡.” At the end of 2024, our colleagues…
New trajectory for cancer
Jamie Hensley, MHCM, CCRP, navigated booths where community health educators shared cancer prevention tips and screening guidelines, and outreach…
HOBI holiday donation drive for Peaceful Paths
Now through December 17, 2024 Join us this holiday season in supporting Peaceful Paths’ Holiday Giving 2024 donation drive! Donations will…
Join Us
We support efforts, within our office and our community, to build a better world for all. Join us and make new connections.
We welcome you to join our efforts to improve Workplace and Community Engagement. Our committee meetings occur on the third Tuesday of every month at 4 p.m., via Zoom. If you would like to receive the invitation to join our monthly meetings, please email Nicole Hammer.
What We Do
The Workplace and Community Engagement Committee is a faculty, staff, and student-run committee that is dedicated to improving our workplace and community through respect, representation, accessibility, and fairness. Our goal is to foster practices and departmental policies that are conducive to a supportive and healthy work climate. We aim to attract, retain, support, and advance heterogenous groups in our student body, workforce, and leadership.
We offer workshops and professional development training, seminar sessions with community organization leaders, and education for future leadership in the field of health outcomes and biomedical informatics. Our committee strives to maintain accountability, transparency, and diligence in our sustained focus on improving our workplace and meaningfully engaging with our greater Gainesville community. This involves defining goals and metrics annually and assessing our performance. We continuously invite feedback and critiques from our committee to ensure we our constantly refining our methods to maximize the promotion of practices and departmental policies that foster respect, representation, accessibility, and fairness.
Anonymous Survey
We are excited to announce a new way for all faculty, staff, and students to share their thoughts, concerns, or suggestions with us. We have launched an ongoing Anonymous Feedback Survey that will be included in each of our newsletters. This survey will be open at all times to anyone who wants to express concerns, ask questions, or offer advice or suggestions on anything related to our department.
Your input is invaluable to us, and we want to ensure that everyone feels heard and respected. The survey will be completely anonymous, and our goal is to collect and analyze the responses in order to better target initiatives, improve support, and strengthen our workplace environment. Together, we can continue to foster a space where everyone is happy, healthy, and valued.
You can find the Anonymous Feedback Survey Link and QR code in all our newsletters going forward, or feel free to email Nicole Hammer for more information.
Organizations We Support
Volunteer
Ronald McDonald Visiting Chef Program
The Ronald McDonald House of North Central Florida has been providing a home-away-from-home for families with hospitalized seriously ill children since 1982.
Visiting Chef Program: We welcome HOBI faculty, staff and students to coordinate a small group (4) to prepare a dinner for the Ronald McDonald House.
Volunteer
Peaceful Paths Shelter and Services
Peaceful Paths is the certified domestic violence center serving Alachua, Bradford and Union Counties in North Central Florida.
Support
Food4Kids Backpacks
The Food4Kids Backpack Program of North Florida fills backpacks with nonperishable food and distributes them to students in need, from kindergarten through high school.
support
Florida Diabetes Camp
Florida Diabetes Camp is committed to enhancing the lives of children with diabetes through education, recreation, and support. It helps children with diabetes by offering a safe, fun, and empowering environment where campers learn diabetes management, build friendships, and gain confidence. With your support, they can continue offering these invaluable, life-changing experiences to all children with diabetes.
Wellness at UF
The College of Medicine maintains a list of vital resources, available to all, to support wellness in a number of areas. Also visit UF Health and Wellness Resources.
Some additional UF resources are included below.
For more information and a comprehensive list of available UF resources, visit U Matter, We Care.
If you are in an emergency or need immediate help, please contact UFPD by calling 911.
For non-emergencies, you can contact UFPD at 352-392-1111 and U Matter, We Care at umatter@ufl.edu.
Contacts
Dominick Lemas Ph.D.