From Scale to Sustainability: Strengthening the Community-Based Women’s Health Workforce

“From Scale to Sustainability: Strengthening the Community-Based Women’s Health Workforce” seeks to understand and address the structural gaps in women’s health. Existing frameworks have laid important groundwork for this work, but what remains absent is a policy agenda that connects the growing responsibilities placed on community-based women’s health workforces with the governmental investments required to sustain them. The project will launch with a public event hosted by Perry World House examining the growing role of community-based health workers, doulas, and other paraprofessional health workers in advancing women’s health and health equity globally. Designed for a broad audience, the event will explore how countries are increasingly relying on community-based workforces to address workforce shortages, strengthen primary health care, and expand access to care while confronting questions regarding sustainability, professional recognition, and workforce support.

Faculty Lead on this Project

Dr. Carmen Alvarez is dedicated to advancing health equity through community-driven solutions that are practical, scalable, and accessible. Her scholarship is informed by her dual identity as a researcher and a family nurse practitioner and certified nurse-midwife. Having spent decades serving marginalized populations in community health centers, she has seen firsthand the gaps in care that traditional systems leave behind.

Her work focuses on designing interventions for those disproportionately affected by trauma—specifically immigrant Latina women navigating the long-term mental and physical health impacts of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and intimate partner violence. Through collaborative partnerships, she develops culturally responsive strategies that address mental health and chronic condition disparities. By grounding innovation in community trust and scientific rigor, Dr. Alvarez strives to build community-based interventions that prioritize resilience and provide sustainable access to care for all.