July 8, 2025

The University of Florida’s new HealthScreen program will use mobile health vehicles to send community health workers and nurses throughout North Central Florida to conduct critical health screenings for heart issues, prediabetes and diabetes. (Photo by Jesse S. Jones)

By Jill Pease

GAINESVILLE, Florida — The University of Florida has launched HealthScreen, a program that focuses on North Central Florida’s critical gap in health screening services. HealthScreen will provide free screenings to identify people at risk for hypertension, heart disease, prediabetes/diabetes and stroke — conditions that can lead to life-threatening illness if not treated.

The program is supported by a $937,000 grant from the Florida Department of Health.

“Inadequate access to screening services in North Central Florida is a major issue,” said HealthScreen’s director Linda B. Cottler, Ph.D., M.P.H., FACE, a professor of epidemiology at the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions and the UF College of Medicine. “Without early detection, these chronic conditions often progress to more advanced stages, leading to severe health outcomes and increased health care costs.”

UF is among two dozen organizations that have been awarded inaugural funding through the Dr. and Mrs. Alfonse and Kathleen Cinotti Health Care Screening and Services Grant Program, which supports no-cost health care screenings or services for the public by nonprofit entities.

UF’s HealthScreen builds on the success of UF HealthStreet, a community engagement program focused on reducing gaps in health care and providing opportunities for health research. Founded and directed by Cottler, UF HealthStreet employs community health workers who go in to the community and develop meaningful connections with residents to help link them to resources and opportunities to participate in relevant research.

HealthScreen combines HealthStreet’s community engagement program with the UF Clinical and Translational Institute’s fleet of mobile health vehicles.

“By combining the trusted relationships established through HealthStreet with the mobility and reach of the Clinical and Translational Science Institute’s clinical research infrastructure, HealthScreen is uniquely positioned to bring vital preventive services directly into communities that need it most,” said Duane Mitchell, M.D., Ph.D., director of the UF Clinical and Translational Science Institute, or CTSI. “This program exemplifies our mission to translate research into meaningful health improvements for all Floridians.”

North Central Florida residents, particularly those in rural areas, may not receive routine health screenings due to limited health care infrastructure and a shortage of health care providers offering preventive services.

 “This funding will provide underserved communities across the region with comprehensive, no-cost health screenings, health resources and medical and social service referrals,” said Catherine W. Striley, Ph.D., M.S.W., M.P,E., an associate professor of epidemiology, co-director of HealthScreen and deputy director of HealthStreet.

HealthScreen’s team of community health workers and nurses will offer community members a tailored assessment of their screening results along with health education and referrals for specific medical care and further screening and testing. Team members will track results of all referrals 60 days after screening to monitor whether residents received services and to document barriers to care and community member satisfaction.

HealthScreen’s services will be offered at community outreach events at locations such as libraries, community centers and bus stops.

“HealthScreen enhances HealthStreet’s mission to reduce gaps in health care, improve health outcomes and support the goals of the Dr. and Mrs. Alfonse and Kathleen Cinotti Health Care Screening and Services Grant Program by meeting and screening people where they are,” Cottler said.

Striley added: “When we do this, we continue to be trustworthy partners in the community.”

In addition to Cottler and Striley, HealthScreen leadership includes E. Mendy Dunn, Ph.D., M.S.N., R.N., the director of operations and chief operating officer at CTSI; Robert Baez, Ph.D., HealthStreet’s director of operations; and members of the CTSI mobile health vehicle and HealthStreet teams.