In Health We Trust goes directly to communities across America to listen — to understand what health means to people, what trust would take, and what they actually need — and to turn what we hear into action, together.
The consequences of eroded trust are visible everywhere: lifesaving guidance goes unheeded, routine vaccinations become flashpoints, clinicians face hostility, and entire communities disengage from the systems meant to serve them.
In response, a growing number of programs have emerged to counter misinformation, bridge partisan divides, or restore institutional credibility. Most of these efforts, however well-intentioned, begin with an assumed diagnosis — presuming to know what is broken and prescribing fixes before listening to the people most affected.
This project starts differently. Rather than building on assumptions, In Health We Trust starts from scratch — going directly to communities and centering listening as the primary method for understanding, and ultimately rebuilding, public confidence in health and science.
We believe there is more that unites Americans on health than the headlines suggest. Our work is designed to surface those shared values and common ground — and to translate them into actionable guidance for the people and institutions that serve them.
In each participating community, we bring together three groups whose trust in one another has frayed: community members, community and civic leaders — business, faith, and civil society — and health leaders from health departments, hospitals, and clinical practice. The work unfolds in three phases.
Each group meets separately in structured, facilitated dialogue sessions — a space to speak candidly about health, trust, and what’s broken, without talking past one another.
A trained community Fellow carries each group’s perspectives — in their own words and voices — to the others, so each side hears what the others actually said, not what they assume was said.
All three groups convene together around a shared issue their community has surfaced — with full hosting and resource support — to design something concrete, and to document what works so other communities can learn from it.
At the heart of the initiative are TrustCorp Fellows — community members selected through an open national call, trained together at Brown University, and returned to their own communities to lead this work from within.
We’re building our recruitment pipeline now. If you’re rooted in your community and care about the future of health in America, we want to hear from you when applications open.
Express interestIn partnership with the team behind Why Should I Trust You?, a companion podcast will follow this work from the beginning — eventually bringing voices from each participating community directly to a national audience.
Associate Professor of the Practice of Public Health at Brown University School of Public Health. Craig has spent his career in community-engaged public health — from maternal health programs to humanitarian response across multiple countries. This initiative brings that work home, applying the same community-first methods to rebuilding trust in health across America.
Khushi leads research operations for the initiative, working across study design, site coordination, and analysis to ensure the work is rigorous, ethical, and accountable to the communities it serves.
Whether you’re a community member, a local leader, a health professional, a journalist, or a potential partner — we’d like to hear from you. Reach out, and sign up for updates as the initiative gets underway.
Contact us