Community Scholars

Alumni Scholars

Alumni of the Community Health Scholars Program (antecedent program to the KHSP) are listed below (click on each name for additional information).

Kaytura Felix Aaron, M.D.

Kaytura Felix Aaron Current Position:
Chief, Clinical Quality Data Branch
Division of Clinical Quality
Bureau of Primary Health Care
Health Resources and Services Administration

Training Site:
Johns Hopkins University

Education:
M.D., Cornell University Medical College

Research Interests:
Incorporating CBPR methodologies into health services research & policy, Access to care for communities of color

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Felix Aaron worked on four community-based projects. In the first, she was involved with the Mid-Atlantic Health Leadership Community Project where she organized a newsletter. She also worked to assist the community to request funding to continue this project. For the second project, Dr. Felix Aaron worked with members of a community health worker association to develop an evaluation tool for determining the level of client satisfaction with health workers. Dr. Felix Aaron’s third project had her participating in the Urban Health Initiative for East Baltimore, where she was studying and trust-building and local governance. In Dr. Felix Aaron’s fourth project, she was studying the Middle East Community Association-Historic East Baltimore Community Action Coalition for urban revitalization.

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Katherine Alaimo, Ph.D, MS

Katherine Alaimo Current Position:
Assistant Professor
Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition
Michigan State University

Training Site:
University of Michigan

Education:
Ph.D, Community Nutrition, Cornell University
M.S., Community Nutrition, Cornell University
B.S., Nutritional Sciences, Cornell University

Research Interests:
U.S. hunger & its consequences for children, community food security, benefits of urban agriculture/community gardening for public health, neighborhood social capital & urban redevelopment, promoting healthy eating and physical activity through policies & environments, community-based participatory research

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Although Flint, Michigan has been challenged more than most communities, a new sense of hope, purpose and possibility is recently visible. One expression of this energy is the Flint Urban Gardening and Land Use Committee. Established in 1998, the Flint Urban Garden and Land Use Committee is an ad-hoc group of community leaders and people from non-profit organizations, neighborhood associations, block clubs, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University Cooperative Extension, and the Genesee County Health Department. Their mission is to provide assistance to groups who are interested in or involved in beautification initiatives and to promote gardening and other land-use projects in Flint and Genesee County. Community gardens, as green spaces, meeting places, and food and flower production systems, have the potential to revitalize distressed neighborhoods and communities. Documentation of these benefits can be used to: improve existing gardens, promote the initiation of new gardens, and secure foundation and city support for gardens and other beautification projects. Dr. Alaimo continues to study the benefits of urban community gardens with the Flint Urban Garden and Land Use Committee.

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Jim Amell, PhD, MPH, MSW

Katherine Alaimo Current Position:

Training Site:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health

Education:
PhD, Social Welfare, University of Wisconsin-Madison
MPH MSW, Maternal and Child Health, University of Minnesota


Jim Amell was involved as a co-instructor for a year long course for UNC students in the MPH program in Health Behavior and Education (HBHE). His research focus was working with the Men as Navigators (MAN) Health Project, a community-based participatory research project underway in Chatham, Orange, and Wake Counties. The goal of the project was to improve chronic disease and sexual health outcomes among African American and Latino men through multi-level interventions.

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Precilla Belin, Ph.D, MA

Precilla Belin Current Position:
 

Training Site:
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Education:
Ph.D, Human Ecology, University of Tennessee
MA, Gerontology, University of Arkansas
BS, Health Education, University of Arkansas

Research Interests:
Health Promotion & Disease Prevention, Health Disparities, Cancer Education & Prevention, Community-Based Participatory Research, Implementation & Evaluation of programs designed for African American women/Minorities/Underserved Populations, Faith-Based Public Health

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Belin worked with a dynamic team of both academic and community mentors, along with a group of community-based organizations in The Johns Hopkins Sandtown-Winchester Project. The project was implemented in an African American community (Sandtown-Winchester) in west Baltimore building upon a partnership, which was initially formed by Elder Clyde Harris in the community and by Dr. David Levine and Lee Bone at Johns Hopkins. Dr. Belin collaborated with Dr. J Hunter Young, the Principal Investigator, and they formed a partnership including Community Building and Partnership, Inc., Visions for Health, New Song Family Health Services, and the Sandtown-Winchester Community Health Advisory Board to uncover the causes of high blood pressure within the community so that it may actually be prevented in the future. Just as important, Dr. Belin directed the capacity building portion of the Sandtown-Winchester Project, in which they worked to enable the community to identify health concerns, to plan approaches to better understand them, and to design programs that would be a strong, positive impact on the community’s health.

Dr. Belin also served as Co-Investigator on a study entitled: “Development of Adolescent Anti-Smoking Messages” with Dr. Barbara Curbow as the Principal Investigator. This study used participatory research techniques to develop anti-smoking messages for female early to mid-adolescents (13-16 years of age). Dr. Belin worked with the research team to develop a community advisory board and to help build community partnerships to assist in the study. Also, Dr. Belin collaborated with Youth Pastors and teens from the Baltimore community to develop faith-based PSAs to compare them with the non-faith-based PSAs.

Dr. Belin is continuing her long history of breast cancer work, specifically developing, implementing, and evaluating faith-based interventions and community outreach programs that focus on education (early detection and prevention) among African American women.

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Nicole Berry, PhD, MA

Nicole Berry Training Site:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health

Education:
PhD, Anthropology, University of Michigan
MA, Anthropology, University of Michigan
BA, International Studies, University of South Carolina

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Nicole Berry was working on a proposed intervention project to decrease HIV/AIDS risk among new Latino immigrants to the Durham, North Carolina community.

Dr. Berry also began a group called "Proyecto Padres" (Project Parents), which developed out of sessions of the Cafe de Mujeres, a weekly women’s group at El Centrol Hispano in Durham, North Carolina. Proyecto Padres started out of the womens’ concern over raising teenagers in the United States, particularly over their daughters’ clandestine dating and teenagers moving out of the house before 18 years of age. The project consisted of six, one and a half classes to improve parenting skills with pre-teens and early teens age 9-14. The purpose of the curriculum was to provide parents with greater resources that will help them make healthier familiies.

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Ronni Bowen, PhD

Ronni Bowen Current Position:
 

Training Site:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Education:
PhD, Community Nutrition, Cornell University
MS, Nutrition Education, Columbia University
BFA, Acting and Journalism, New York University

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Bowen’s primary project was with HOPE Works(Health Opportunities Partnerships Empowerment), focusing on improving the health of less advantaged, minority and female residents in rural areas using a participatory model. HOPE Works addresses economic, educational, and health needs of women in HOPE circles, and Dr. Bowen’s role was to conduct a process evaluation of the HOPE circle facilitators and document the personal impact of this role and the HOPE Works experience in their lives.

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Diane Calleson, Ph.D, MA

Diane Calleson Current Position:
Assistant Professor
Department of Family Medicine

Public Health Leadership Program
University of North Carolina

Training Site:
University of North Carolina

Education:
Ph.D, Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis, North Carolina State University
MA, Sociology, North Carolina State University

Research Interests:
The effect of community involvement on academic health centers and Community-service learning modalities in health professional education

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
United Voices, located in rural Orange County, North Carolina, is a minority-led, community-based organization that has recently acquired its 501C3 status. United Voices is well acquainted with the ideals and principles of participatory action research from its involvement in both the Community-Based Public Health Initiative and the Community Health Scholars Program. As a scholar, Dr. Calleson worked with them to increase their organizational capacity so that they could enhance community programs, and continue to serve as a viable, long-term partner with public and private agencies to improve the health outcomes of their community.

Dr. Calleson’s research included working with United Voices leaders to: (1) define goals for recruitment; (2) determine the individuals, agencies and business leaders to interview; (3) develop sets of interview questions; (4) analyze the information gathered in the interviews; (5) and develop strategies for recruitment and retention of United Voices members.

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Vivian Chavez, DrPH, MPH

Vivian Chavez Current Position:
Associate Professor
Department of Health Education
San Francisco State University

Training Site:
University of Michigan

Education:
DrPH, Community Health Education, University of California at Berkeley
MPH, Health Education, University of California at Berkeley

Research Interests:
Youth & community development, Violence prevention, Collaborative leadership, Community-based participatory research

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Chavez was involved in a video ethnography of local community based participatory research in Detroit through the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The project enabled her to: a) learn broadly about the field of CBPR, i.e.: history, values, methodologies, politics; b) learn specific technical skills of documentary video making - a rarely used research method in the field of public health - to educate funding agencies, researchers, and community based organizations in the principles and practice of community-based participatory research; and c) apply principles of CBPR to the video making process. An important component of CBPR is the dissemination of findings. Traditionally, this has meant writing up the results of a study and submitting the product as a presentation and/or manuscript for publication. Principles of CBPR call for this process to be done in partnership with representatives of the community-based organizations that contributed to the research process. Nonetheless, the frame of reference for dissemination of findings is often guided by standards within academia that focus on methodology and outcomes frequently at the expense of process. Although form and content are intricately related, visual arts, music, and other means of interactive education are unusual as sources for dissemination of research findings.

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Dawnavan Davis, PhD, MS

Dawnavan Davis Training Site:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health

Education:
PhD, MS, Medical Psychology, Uniformed Services University
MS, Community Health Education, Towson University
BA, Psychology, Loyola College of Maryland

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Dawnavan Davis’s primary focus was with the BEAUTY project, examining the effectiveness of using beauty salons and stylists to promote healthy behaviors that target cancer risk factors such as smoking, poor diet, and physical inactivity. The BEAUTY project is in over 40 salons across North Carolina. Dr. Davis’s role was on manuscript and presentation development and grant writing, as well as attendence to team meetings and retreats.

As a second project, Dr. Dawnavan Davis was working with "Our Bodies, God’s Temples", which is researching the effectiveness of integrating a nutrition and physical activity curriculum into the pre-existing structure of the church school. The project’s goal is to provide health education as an ongoing ministry and incorporating key church members in the delivery of health information. In addition, the church school is a supportive learning environment whereby the intersection of nutrition and physical activity education and the Bible and faith-based messages may potentially have a positive impact on health.

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Roberta Downing, PhD, MS, MA

Roberta Downing Training Site:
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

Education:
PhD, Social Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz
MS, Social Psychology, University of California, Santa Cruz
MA, General Psychology, Pepperdine University
BA, Comparative Literature and Spanish, San Diego State University

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Roberta Downing’s primary work was a Photovoice research project with the Center for Adodescent Health entitled "Love Through the Eyes of Baltimore Youth: Photovoice as a Youth Empowerment Tool." The project had several aims: (1) to desribe how adolescents define and describe the construct of "love", (2) to examine the relationship of love to adolescent health, and (3) to investigate how participating in a Photovoice project impacts youth empowerment. The study of love through the eyes of low-income urban youth of color fills an important gap in the social science and public health literature. By providing positive aspects of the youth’s live can counter deficit-oriented models that often problematize youth of color. Such perspectives can provide important insights for health interventions.

As another project, Dr. Roberta Downing was also been working to develop a health disparities index using county level data throughout the United States. The goal of the project is to identify what counties have the largest disparities in health outcomes, and to gain the attention of the elected officals at the county, state, and federal level.

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Cheryl Dudley-Brewster, EdD

Cheryl Dudley-Brewster Current Position:
 

Training Site:
University of Michigan

Education:
EdD, Health Education, Teachers College - Columbia University
MA, School Counseling, Clark Atlanta University
BA, Psychology, University of Maryland

Research Interests:
African American Adolescent Health, STDs and HIV/AIDS

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Cheryl Dudley-Brewster worked on the project, Physical Activity Promotion among Pregnant Latinas and African Americans (PAPPLAA), developing written health education materials promoting exercise among pregnant African American and Latino women. In conjunction with the written materials an exercise video was made. This project was funded by a supplemental grant to the Promoting Healthy Lifestyles Among Women, (PHLAW), renamed Healthy Mothers on the Move (Healthy MOMs) is a 5-year NIH funded community based randomized controlled clinical trial study.The overall aims of PAPPLAA are:

  1. Develop culturally and linguistically (Spanish and English) appropriate materials and methods that promote and support moderate physical activity among African American and Latino women.
  2. Develop materials that are useful for women with low literacy levels; and include images, terminology, and role models with whom the women can identify.
  3. Evaluate the acceptability and usefulness of the materials by pregnant African American and Latino women residing in Detroit communities.

As the Project Manager she worked with a community committee that had been formed to create the materials previously mentioned. Dr. Dudley-Brewster was also responsible for evaluating the materials, which included the development of evaluation tools for the project.The second project, Teen-Adult Partnerships: Examining Roots of Success and Developing a Model for Teen-Driven Centers (TAPRoot), on which she was working was based at a teen-driven center, The Neutral Zone, located in Ann Arbor. Because this teen-driven approach model is relatively new, little systematic information is available about what contributes to the successful operation of teen-driven centers. Thus, there is a great need in local communities for comprehensive information about best practices in establishing and running teen-driven centers. The proposed project is an 18-month pilot that will assess the program development and evaluation issues. The project has produced multiple materials, including a meta-analysis of successful teen centers, to be disseminated to Michigan non-profits and other community groups interested in teen-driven approaches. As a member of the project team, she worked to secure funding for this project and with different stages of program implementation.

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Stephanie Farquhar, Ph.D, MA

Stephanie Farquhar Current Position:
Associate Professor
Portland State University’s School of Community Health
Portland, Oregon

Training Site:
University of North Carolina

Education:
Ph.D., Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health
M.A., Anthropology, University of Colorado at Boulder

Research Interests:
Social & Environmental Equity, Environmental Health Policy, Effects of Grassroots Participation on Health and the Role of the University in Academic-Community Public Health Partnerships

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Farquhar worked on a community-driven research project that was initiated by the social justice organization, Workers and Community for Relief and Aid Project (WCRAP). The data that was collected in the project was submitted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and local government representatives in an effort to change discriminatory and inadequate emergency environmental and housing policies. Illustrative statistics and interview quotes from over 200 interviewees, as well as qualitative and quantitative data collection methods and analyses was presented. With the assistance of her community mentor Naeema Muhammad, Dr. Farquhar continues working towards changes in policy and the establishment of a Survivors’ Organizing Council.

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Shannon Frattaroli, Ph.D, MPH

Shannon Frattaroli Current Position:
Assistant Scientist
Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health

Training Site:
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg University

Education:
Ph.D., Johns Hopkins Bloomberg University
MPH, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg University

Research Interests:
Role of policy in improving the health of populations, Effects of firearm injury prevention policies, Role of advocacy and communities in the policy process

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
The potential of policy to influence the public’s health has long been recognized by our profession. However, policy interventions are a rarity among community-based public health initiatives. More common are educational interventions which aim to change individual behavior, and health service interventions which provide specific services to community members.

In order to better understand the role of policy in community-based initiatives, Dr. Frattaroli partnered with two policy-oriented community organizations in Baltimore. One organization, the Neighborhood Congress, is a city-wide coalition of neighbors and neighborhood associations working to bring a community voice to local government policies that affect community health. The second organization is comprised of victims of gun violence working to reduce gun death and injury through grassroots organizing and policy advocacy. Through these partnerships, several lessons related to community participation in the policy process are being identified. Key findings included: strategies for building and sustaining momentum in support of policy goals; roles for partners in community-based policy advocacy efforts; and techniques for accessing decision-makers.

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Clarence Gravlee, Ph.D, MA

Clarence Gravlee Current Position:
Assistant Professor
University of Florida

Training Site:
University of Michigan

Education:
Ph.D, Anthropology, University of Florida
MA, Anthropology, University of Florida
BA, Anthropology, University of Florida

Research Interests:
Hypertension and Racial Inequalities in Health

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Lance Gravlee worked with the Healthy Environments Partnership (HEP), a community-based participatory research project affiliated with the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center. HEP is focused on the role of air pollution, dietary factors, and stress in shaping racial and socioeconomic disparities in cardiovascular disease in Detroit, with the goal of informing community-based interventions and policy efforts to reduce such disparities. A central aim of HEP is to document how neighborhood and social structural conditions influence social inequalities in heart disease. To that end, Dr. Gravlee joined a team of community and academic partners in developing and implementing a standardized tool for assessing neighborhood conditions in the three HEP study areas. He also developed a parallel project to map the distribution of fundamental social determinants of health, using a combination of ethnographic methods and Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

In addition, he was involved with HEP’s community outreach and education program (COEP), which aimed to communicate the study’s findings both to policy makers and to community members at large. Finally, Dr. Gravlee participated in a writing team from the Eastside Village Health Workers Partnership (ESVHWP) to examine the relationship between perceived discrimination and health in the most recent wave of the ESVHWP survey. One aim of this project was to identify local arenas for developing community-based interventions to reduce racial inequalities in health. In January 2004, Dr. Gravlee has joined the faculty of the Department of Anthropology at Florida State University.

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Derek Griffith, Ph.D, MA

Derek Griffith Current Position:
Assistant Professor
Department of Health Behavior & Health Education
Associate Evaluation Director
Prevention Research Center
University of Michigan - School of Public Health

Training Site:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Education:
Ph.D, Clinical Community Psychology, DePaul University
MA, Clinical-Community Psychology, DePaul University
BA, Psychology/Afro-American Studies, University of Maryland

Research Interests:
Social determinants of health disparities, Institutionalized Racism, Evaluation, Health of men of color

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Derek Griffith worked on two projects: one on rural, African American men’s health and another on institutional racism in a county health department. The first project, entitled Efland Men Acting Together on Cancer and Health (MATCH), had three goals: (1) explore the social and historical context in Efland, NC that have an impact on African American men’s gender socialization and access to health care, screening, and information through interviews, focus groups, and secondary data collection, and (2) develop and pilot a multi-level intervention that focuses on issues of male gender socialization related to seeking prostate cancer information and screening. This intervention included training MATCH Advisors or natural helpers; organizing MATCH Learning Circles, men’s social and discussion groups to normalize discussion of prostate cancer and other men’s health issues; and development of a MATCH health communications campaign, organized to raise awareness about men’s health and prostate cancer. Also, MATCH will (3) evaluate and refine the confidant interview method for collecting data from MATCH Advisors and participants about the impact of the intervention on men’s informed decision-making, social group norms, and community awareness around seeking prostate cancer information and screening. This research was a collaboration between African-American men in Efland, United Voices of Efland-Cheeks, local churches, and representatives from the Orange County Health Department.

The second project was an effort to measure institutional racism in Chatham County Public Health Department, and conduct a participatory evaluation of their Dismantling Racism process. This process was designed to develop a common language and a common analysis for understanding racism and the ways in which it manifests itself in the health care delivery system, and examin the policies, procedures and structures that allow racism to continue to exist within the Chatham County Public Health Department. The evaluation framework is based on Camara Jones’ (2000) ecological framework for understanding racism at the institutional, personally-mediated and internalized levels, and explores how to measure the impact of the Dismantling Racism process at each of these levels.

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Davyda Hammond, PhD, MS

Davyda Hammond Training Site:
University of Michigan School of Public Health

Education:
PhD, Environmental Health Engineering, University of Alabama
MS, Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Irvine
BS, Mechanical Engineering, Auburn University

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Davyda Hammond was working with the Community Action Against Asthma Partnership (CAAA) on multiple air quality-related projects involving health disparities in Detroit, Michigan. The research activities for these projects include: environmental exposure data analysis, data dissemination to community partners, and air quality policy research and advocacy.

Knowledge of airborne particulate matter (PM) sources is needed to develop effective PM reduction strategies. For this project, the EPA UNMIX and Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) models are used for source apportionment modeling purposes and to show distinct patterns of emission composition. CAAA works with multiple air-quality related agencies and initiative in Detroit such as the Southeastern Michigan Council of Governments (SEMCOG) and the Detroit Air Toxics Initiative (DATI). In addition to working with these two agencies, Dr. Davyda Hammond has been following two proposals in Detroit that have major environmental justice concerns: The Detroit Intermodal Freight Terminal (DIFT) and the Detroit International River Crossing (DIRC).

The Community Action Against Asthma Partnership (CAAA) is a project of the Michigan Center for the Environment and Children’s Health, working to improve the health of children with asthma in two communities within Detroit (eastside and southwest), which demographically have a high proportion of low-income residents from minority ethnic groups.

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Karen Kim, PhD

Karen Kim Current Position:
Assistant Professor
Department of Health Behavior & Health Education
College of Public Health
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

Training Site:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Education:
Ph.D, Nutrition, Cornell University
B.S., Nutrition, Cornell University

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
The daughter, granddaughter, and great-granddaughter of pastors, Doctor Kim’s heritage is intertwined in her work. At Cornell University, she examined relationships between religion, social support, stress, nutrition, and health, including body weight, body image, and dieting. At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Doctor Kim utilized her expertise in nutrition, religion, other psychosocial factor, and body weight to promote health.

In her primary project, Doctor Kim collaborated with several African American churches in Siler City in developing a faith-based weight loss and depression intervention program. After the Health Ministry Team was created, health assessment surveys indicated that weight loss and depression were two issues of most importance to the community. The intervention program addressed several levels of the ecological model, including individual, church and community. The program also had a holistic focus including the health of body, mind, and spirit. Formative research ensured that the intervention tools are culturally appropriate to the faith community. After formative research, the intervention was implemented and evaluated.

Doctor Kim was also involved in other projects. In one, she is the intervention coordinator of the weight and nutrition campaign of the North Carolina Bringing Education and Understanding to You (BEAUTY) and Health project, a 4-year American Cancer Society funded research trial in 40 African American beauty salons. Further, Doctor Kim had also been collaborating with the formative research team in Health, Opportunities, Partnerships, Empowerment (HOPE) Works, a multilevel obesity control intervention in rural North Carolinian women.

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Shawn Kimmel, PhD, MA

Karen Kim Current Position:

Training Site:
University of Michigan School of Public Health

Education:
Ph.D., American Studies, University of Michigan
MA, American History & Philanthropic Studies, Indiana University

Shawn Kimmel was pursuing research on community-based capacity-building for policy change in collaboration with the CBPR partnerships of the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center (URC), including REACH Detroit and Detroiters Working for Environmental Justice. His research in collaboration with Detroit community-based experts in community building and policy advocacy saught to understand the forms of policy-related training and capacity-building that will most effectively enable CBPR partnerships to engage in effective policy interventions. This research is intended to advance scholarship on the strategic impacts of CBPR at the policy level.

Shawn's CBPR project engaged both community-based and academic partners in the critical discussion of training methods and measures of capacity for policy engagement that will be most useful to advancing community-based policy work to eliminate health disparities. This project developed user-friendly CBPR resources to facilitate the work of community-based training for policy change.

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Simona Kwon, DrPH, MPH

Simona Kwon Training Site:
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

Education:
DrPH, Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
MPH, Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Yale University School of Public Health
BA, Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Wesleyan University

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Simona Kwon has been working on several projects, the first of which is a research proposal with the Korean Resource Center to conduct health literacy research in the Korean immigrant community in Baltimore County. Components of this research proposal include a partner-focused tobacco cessation program and a community-based media campaign and intervention to raise awareness and reduce stigma regarding depression in the Korean elderly population.

Dr. Simona Kwon's second project is called "Developing Strategies to Reduce Smoking amoung 18-24 Year Old, Urban African Americans". The purpose of the study is to understand the environmental factors and social norms that may contribute to the high levels of tobacco use in this urban environment.

As a third project, Dr. Simona Kwon wrote a research proposal called "Building a Culturally-Appropriate Cancer Support Intervention for African Americans". The goal of the proposed project is to understand the cacer support needs and financial constraints faced by older African American cancer survivors living in Baltimore.

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Cynthia Lanier, DrPH, MPH

Cynthia Lanier Current Position:
Lecturer & Research Associate
Walden University

Training Site:
University of North Carolina

Education:
DrPH, Health Promotion, University of Texas Health Science Center
MPH, Public Health, University of Texas Health Science Center
RN, Brackenridge School of Nursing
BS, Health Education, University of Texas at Austin

Research Interests:
Adolescent Health & Program Evaluation

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Lanier worked in the Efland Cheeks community with the Teens in Power (TIP) program. TIP was developed as a prevention effort in addressing the use of illicit drug use by adolescents in the community. The program focused on six main areas that included leadership development, health, recreation, tutoring, entrepreneurship, and recruiting minority youth into health careers. Dr. Lanier prepared an evaluation report of the program and presented it to the community in September, 1999.

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Tracey Lewis-Elligan, Ph.D., MA

Tracey Lewis-Elligan Current Position:
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
DePaul University

Training Site:
University of Michigan

Education:
Ph.D, Child and Family Studies, Syracuse University
M.A, Psychology, New School Social Res., New York, NY
B.A, Psychology, Hampton University

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Tracey Lewis-Elligan was involved in two projects during her Community Health Scholars Year. One project, Promoting Healthy Lifestyles Among Women, PHLAW, is a 5-year NIH funded community based randomized controlled clinical trial study. The overall aim of the project was to demonstrate the effectiveness of a healthy lifestyle intervention tailored to meet the needs of pregnant and postpartum African-American and Latino women in Detroit, Michigan. The intervention was designed to reduce behavioral and clinical risk factors for Type 2 diabetes. The healthy lifestyle intervention includes three goals: 1) to increase physical activity of women, 2) to increase fruit and vegetable intake and 3) to reduce fat and sugar intake. Dr. Lewis-Elligan’s role in this project is to: 1) observe how a randomized controlled clinical trial study is conducted by applying CBPR principles, 2) to facilitate the process evaluation of the pilot study, and 3) to contribute to the curriculum development. Dr. Lewis-Elligan planned to participate in pilot testing newly developed aspects of the curriculum with community resident participants.

The second project Dr. Lewis-Elligan was involved in is affiliated with the East Side Village Health Worker Partnership (ESVHWP). The ESVHWP was developed to investigate the social determinants of health and to improve the health of women, children, and families on Detroit’s East Side. The ESVHWP incorporates CBPR principles and relies on a lay health worker intervention strategy to improve the lives of women, children, and families. Over the past seven years, the ESVHWP has worked in collaboration with Village Health Workers (VHWs) to address priority areas and objectives. One project called BEST-Building Early Self-Esteem Techniques was developed by a VHW, Yvette Banks, to address identified priority areas. BEST is a 4-week workshop that was developed to strengthen young women and children’s self-esteem by incorporating the art of hair braiding. Dr. Lewis-Elligan’s role in this project involved conducting a formative evaluation of BEST. The evaluation methods included participant observation, focus group, in-depth interviews, and CBPR principles. In collaboration with the advisory committee of BEST(which is made up of members from the Health Department, Community Based Organizations, VHWs, and University of Michigan) Dr. Lewis-Elligan evaluated the impact of this project and the feasibility and future direction of such a project.

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Michael Lindsey, Ph.D, MPH, MSW

Michael Lindsey Current Position:
Assistant Professor
School of Social Work
University of Maryland, Baltimore

Training Site:
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Education:
Ph.D, Social Work, University of Pittsburgh
MPH, University of Pittsburgh
MSW, Howard University
BA, Sociology, Morehouse College

Research Interests:
Mental health service delivery to minority adolescents, Development of male children in single-mother homes, Violence prevention among urban youth, Community-based intervention development

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Michael Lindsey was involved in various projects geared towards addressing the mental health of African-American adolescent males. An example of one project titled, Mental Health Needs Assessment for African-American Adolescent Males worked with community settings, in most cases community-based organizations and schools, to observe and understand what the different mental health needs are of African-American adolescent males. Dr. Lindsey met with African American families and youth in these settings to identify the most salient mental health issues faced by adolescent males. Of specific focus: 1) understanding the community role (past and current) in addressing the mental health problems of African-American adolescent males; 2) exploring the help-seeking behaviors of African-American adolescent males; and 3) determining the feasibility of multi-site intervention to address mental issue among African-American adolescent males.

Another example of another project that Dr. Lindsey was involved with is titled, Determine the Feasibility of a Mental Health Intervention, was undertaken to review the feasibility and utility of a psychoeducation intervention developed exclusively for African-African adolescent males. Dr. Lindsey worked with the steering committee to identify: 1) how the intervention can be sustained in community settings; 2) a community-based organization to pilot test the intervention; and 3) what settings are most useful for systematic data collection to determine the efficacy of this intervention. In year two of the fellowship period, Dr. Lindsey worked on testing out the psychoeducation intervention using a comparison group and with an adequate sample size to determine program efficacy. This randomized study included community-based organizations and settings that work with African-American males.

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Ellen Lopez, Ph.D, MPH

Ellen Lopez Current Position:
Assistant Professor

Training Site:
University of Michigan

Education:
Ph.D, Health Behavior/Health Education, University of North Carolina
MPH, Health Sciences, University of Washington
BA, Psychology/Social Welfare, University of Wisconsin

Research Interests:
Social determinants of health in the communities of color

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Ellen D.S. Lopez committed to work with two CBPR projects; Community Action Against Asthma (CAAA), and The Eastside Access Partnership. The focus of CAAA is to identify and reduce children’s exposure to environmental asthma triggers in east and southwest communities in Detroit, Michigan. A two-year component of CAAA is a household intervention in which community outreach workers visited over 300 households multiple times to work with caregivers of a child with asthma in designing individualized action plans for reducing the child’s exposure to indoor environmental asthma triggers, and to provide education, social support and materials (e.g., vacuums, cleaning supplies) to achieve their action plans. Ellen conducted in-depth, qualitative interviews with caregivers who participated in the project to provide them the opportunity to give their perspectives regarding CAAA’s impact on their child and family as well as their insights as to how broader social, structural, and environmental issues affect their child’s asthma and impact their ability to manage it.

The primary aim of the Eastside Access Partnership (EAP) is to increase enrollment of uninsured children into state insurance programs by educating residents about available insurance options, and reducing barriers to seeking and receiving coverage. To achieve this aim, one approach EAP is using is the learning technology, Root Learning Maps®. Learning maps are visual murals that use metaphors (generated by community members) to capture the essence of the issues faced by residents seeking insurance. Ellen worked with community partners to evaluate how well the learning map and interactive questioning is able to engage parents in discussions about issues related to obtaining coverage for their children.

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GiShawn Mance, PhD, MS

Ellen Lopez Current Position:

Training Site:
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

Education:
Ph.D., Clinical Child Psychology, DePaul University


GiShawn Mance works with The Health and Opportunity Partnership (HOPE), a community-based participatory research (CBPR) project designed to integrate health promotion strategies within community agencies to reach otherwise “disconnected,” out-of-school youth (ages 18 – 24). The objective of the study is to assist the community in identifying healthy pathways to adulthood and increase mental health service utilization and is important for understanding the barriers that prevent certain populations from pursuing mental health services, and, more broadly, to increase the proportion of young adults with mental health problems who receive treatment.

Dr. Mace serves as the primary clinical psychologist and intervention developer for the mental health component of the study. As part of her practice she upholds the principles of CBPR research by collaborating with the community members (PLG) to develop, implement, and evaluate the efficacy and effectiveness of mental health education curriculum and peer-led support groups.

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Iveris Martinez, Ph.D, MA

Iveris Martinez Current Position:
Assistant Professor
Center on Aging & Health
Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions

Training Site:
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Education:
Ph.D, Anthropology & Population Dynamics, Johns Hopkins University
MA, Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University
BA, Anthropology & Society, Florida International

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Iveris L. Martinez planned to engage in two community-based participatory research projects over a two-year period: 1) Health Assessment of the Latino Community in Baltimore Metropolitan Area and 2) The Translation of Chronic Disease Self-Management Curriculum for More Vulnerable Populations. The Health Assessment of the Latino Community in Baltimore Metropolitan Area was carried out with Centro de la Comunidad, one of the leading Latino community based organizations in Baltimore City, with a history of providing important health care services, as well as other essential services and referrals, to the underserved Latino community in Baltimore and its surrounding areas. The purpose of the assessment was to document both the strengths and needs of the growing Latino community in Baltimore in order to serve as a baseline for this and other community-based organizations serving this community. Dr. Martinez’s role was to facilitate the process by collaborating her skills and knowledge in grant writing, and conceptually organizing the methodology to carry out this assessment, and dissemination, as well as aid in any further program planning that emerged from the assessment. Through an increasing involvement in the Baltimore community, Dr. Martinez sought to identify a community of elders and/or senior community-based organizations to pilot a chronic disease self-management (CDSM) intervention that was being implemented as part of a broader project on integrated health care for seniors called the Guided Care Project as Dr. Martinez’s second project. Although this chronic disease self-management program curriculum has been implemented and tested nationally, the target population may not be representative of a population selected in Baltimore City for the Guide Care Project, or the growing number of seniors which are found in minority populations, including the Latin American elders. This curriculum will be tested and modified if necessary in order for it be an effective intervention in a diverse community of seniors, such as those residing in Baltimore City, which may be less educated and/or have less socio-economic resources.

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Mondi Mason, PhD

Mondi Mason Current Position:
 

Training Site:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Education:
Ph.D, Health and Behavioral Sciences, University of Colorado
MPH, Gerontology, University of Northern Colorado
MA, Gerontology, University of Northern Colorado
BA, Gerontology, University of Florida

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Mason worked with Las Mujeres Mejorando el Futuro (Women Improving the Future) a group of Latina women in Siler City, North Carolina working toward social change. This new grassroots effort envisioned building capacity among community-dwelling women by developing leadership and advocacy skills through educational opportunities. By empowering women through education and knowledge, and organizing around issues that are important to them and the community, the group intended to create a better quality of life for Siler City residents. Dr. Mason’s objectives were to evaluate: 1) the process of organizing this new group and 2) how the group affects the lives of the women, specifically in the areas of stress and coping. Additionally, Dr. Mason collaborated with the women and an African American grassroots organization to conduct a systematic assessment of transportation needs of Siler City residents in cooperation with local transportation services.

Dr. Mason also worked with the Chatham County Public Health Department (CCPHD) on their Dismantling Racism (DR) Process. The DR process involves a multilevel (e.g., individual, organization, institutional and community) approach for social change. Dr. Mason was working with the CCPHD staff to create a surveillance system to evaluate the DR Process. Additionally, she worked to align the Cultural and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health Care Standards with the organization’s DR Action Plan. With the agency’s staff, she was able to identify areas to be assessed (e.g., language access, cultural competency of staff) and develop and implement area-specific assessments that will then lead to trainings and interventions (e.g., trainings for how to work with interpreters and cultural competency). Integrated with this project was Dr. Mason’s Research Clerkship for the CHSP, the MAN (Men as Navigators) for Health Project. Her primary role in this project was to assist with the development of an evaluation and intervention plan for the dismantling racism portion of the project in Chatham County as it relates to improving Chatham County Public Health Department services for Latino men.

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Siobhan Maty, Ph.D, MPH

Siobhan Maty Current Position:
Assistant Professor
School of Community Health
Portland State University

Training Site:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Education:
Ph.D, Epidemiology, University of Michigan
MPH, Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
BS, Biology, University of Maryland

Research Interests:
Social determinants of health & disease, Health disparities, Epidemiology of diabetes and obesity, Translation of research into action to achieve social change

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Siobhan Maty’s research objective was to collaborate with Strengthening the Black Family, Project Direct, the UNC School of Public Health and community members to gather formative data from adolescent males and females who reside in South East Raleigh. Dr. Maty’s objectives were to determine the adolescent level of knowledge about overweight/obesity and type 2 diabetes, determine their level of awareness of risk factors for obesity/type 2 diabetes (e.g. dietary choices, physical inactivity, etc..), determine the adolescents perceived risk of becoming overweight/obese or developing Type 2 diabetes, and investigate contextual factors (neighborhood characteristics such as location of playground, food sources, financial resources, role modeling, family size, food options) that influence the perceived risk and risk behavior adoption/cessation of these adolescents. Dr. Maty hoped to use both focus groups and individual interviews as data collection methods. Dr. Maty engaged the adolescents in a social mapping exercise where they will be asked to draw where they spend their time and to document how much time they spend with each activity. These maps were used to stimulate discussion during focus groups and to help the youth participants become aware of their surroundings and how their physical environment can influence their behavior.

Dr. Maty’s research project allowed her to employ a community-based participatory research approach to collaborate with academic and community mentors and community partners to explore the health beliefs and risk perceptions of adolescents in SE Raleigh, focusing on nutrition, physical activity, obesity and Type 2 diabetes.

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Isa Williams Miles, ScD

Isa Williams Miles Current Position:
Epidemic Intelligence Service Office
Coordinating Center for Health Promotion
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity
Physical Activity and Health Branch
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Training Site:
Johns Hopkins University Education:
ScD, Epidemiology, Harvard University School of Public Health
MS, Epidemiology, Harvard University School of Public Health
BS, Mathematics, Howard University

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Isa Williams Miles’ research interests include health disparities, cancer prevention in African American populations, women’s health, and health communication methods. As a community health scholar at Johns Hopkins University, she actively applied CBPR methods to each of these areas of research. Specifically, Dr. Miles worked on two post-doctorate research projects: 1) A community based evaluation and dissemination of hypertension prevention health communication materials; and 2) Designing, evaluating, and implementing a survey for a faith-based participatory intervention designed to increase breast health care among African American women.

In her primary project, Dr. Miles worked with community members in East Baltimore and the leadership at The Men’s Center, a CBO serving African American men living in East Baltimore, to evaluate and pilot a dissemination of hypertension prevention educational materials that were developed as a result of the research of a previous Kellogg Community Health Scholar, Dr. Lisa Benz-Scott. This project involved evaluating the accuracy and appropriateness of the materials for the community, receiving feedback from the community about ways in which the materials should be tailored to be more specific to the community’s needs, working with the community to develop a plan for dissemination of the materials, and designing a proper evaluation plan to determine whether the pilot dissemination effort was successful. The community was involved in all aspects of the research including, but not limited to, deciding on methods to collect information, participating in all research and dissemination efforts, and establishing criteria for success of the dissemination.

Dr. Miles was also part of a research team for a study funded by the Susan G. Komen Foundation that sought to determine if a faith-based participatory intervention could increase breast health care among African American women living in Baltimore. Eight churches in Baltimore participated in the study and each church elected one woman to serve as a program coordinator for the study. These lay health workers were part of the research team and were responsible for organizing a Women’s Health Day Program at their church with a focus on breast cancer health and prevention. Dr. Miles had the primary responsibility of working with the lay health workers to develop, pilot-test, and plan for the implementation of a survey to collect relevant health and demographic information from all participants at the Women’s Health Day Programs. In addition to her two research projects, Dr. Miles was affiliated with the Morgan-Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions.

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Shani Harris Peterson, PhD

Shani Harris Peterson Current Position:
Participant, Fellowships in Research & Science Teaching Program (FIRST)
Department of Behavioral Science & Health Education
Emory University Rollins School of Public Health

Training Site:
Johns Hopkins University

Education:
Ph.D, Clinical Psychology, Duke University - Durham
MA, Clinical Psychology, Duke University - Durham
BA, Psychology, Spelman College - Atlanta

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
The prevalence of HIV infection among African American girls and women is higher than that of any other racial or ethnic group in the U.S. (CDC, 2002). Those adolescents who are most at risk of contracting HIV reside in urban settings, and the community-based organizations (CBOs), who often serve them, are challenged to identify and implement developmental- and culturally-appropriate interventions; often while managing limited financial and personnel resources. In response to this need, it has been suggested that researchers develop innovative, culturally-relevant alternatives to costly multi-session individual or group interventions. The use of applied media may be one such approach.

Dr. Peterson’s research primary research objective was to marry culturally-relevant models of risk with Entertainment-Education (EE) strategies to guide the development of an interactive, media-based health promotion tool designed to increase sexual health knowledge and reduce risk behaviors among African American girls. Her work was based in the Sandtown-Winchester community of west Baltimore, Maryland, where she has partnered with Community Building in Partnership, Inc., a CBO committed to empowering residents to direct and sustain the physical, social, and economic development of their community. Project goals were: to identify sociocultural and contextual factors that impact sexual decision making among African American adolescent girls living in the community; and to create a sustainable model for an arts-based after school program and, in its application, work with program participants to develop an interactive, media-based health promotion tool.

In addition to her primary project, Dr. Peterson is engaged in a host of complementary research programs. She is affiliated with the Morgan-Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions where she assists with manuscript preparations, statistical analyses, and community dissemination activities. Dr. Peterson is also affiliated with the FRIENDS Project, a pilot program designed to create a culturally-appropriate modifications to an anxiety reduction program for elementary school aged students. Finally, Dr. Peterson is actively preparing several manuscripts taken from her dissertation for publication.

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Penny Rechkemmer, PhD

Penny Rechkemmer Training Site:
Johns Hopkins University

Education:
PhD, Environmental and Occupational Health, University of Minnesota
MPH, Public Health Administration, University of Minnesota
MA, Anthropology, Iowa State University
BA, Anthropology, Iowa State University

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Rechkemmer’s program plan was focused on reducing the impact of environmental exposures on the health of those residing in the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood. Goals of her research included increasing the capacity of residents to address environmental issues, developing outreach and educational materials around environmental justice issues as determined by a needs assessment, and gathering environmental plot data for future environmental justice grants.

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Michael Reece, Ph.D, MPH

Michael Reece Current Position:
Assistant Professor and William L. Yarber Professor
Department of Applied Health Science
Indiana University

Training Site:
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

Education:
Ph.D., Health Behavior, University of Georgia
MPH, Health Promotion, San Diego State University
BS, Health Promotion, University of Georgia

Research Interests:
Sexual Health, HIV-Related Mental Health

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
During Dr. Reece’s year in the Community Health Scholars Program he worked closely with two community-based organizations, Health Care for the Homeless (HCH) in Baltimore, Maryland, and Positive Impact, Inc., in Atlanta, Georgia. Through his work with HCH, Dr. Reece and his community partners worked to complete a process evaluation of the agency’s outpatient additions treatment program. This work continues as Dr. Reece and his partners are exploring several funding opportunities for subsequent research based upon his CHSP project findings. At Positive Impact, an Atlanta area mental health clinic for low income, HIV affected individuals, Dr. Reece and his community partners worked on dissemination activities associated with research that they had conducted prior to the beginning of his CHSP year. They also explored the factors associated with sustaining a long-distance research partnership given that Dr. Reece and his partners had been conducting community-based participatory research prior to the beginning of his year at Johns Hopkins. Dissemination activities included presentations at national conferences, the preparation of manuscripts for submission to peer-reviewed journals, and the development of an application that was subsequently funded. As a result, Dr. Reece and his partners at Positive Impact will be able to continue their work over the next five years through the GA Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Minority Psychosocial Services Project.

During his CHSP year, Dr. Reece also worked as the Program Planning Chair of the Community Based Public Health Caucus as this group organized a slate of scientific sessions for the 2001 American Public Health Association Annual Meeting.

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Scott Rhodes, Ph.D, MPH

Scott Rhodes Current Position:
Assistant Professor
Department of Public Health Science
Wake Forest University School of Medicine

Training Site:
University of North Carolina

Education:
Ph.D, Health Behavior, University of Alabama at Birmingham
MPH, Health Administration, University of South Carolina
BA, Government, College of William and Mary

Research Interests:
Sexual health, HIV and Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) prevention, and Health disparities among vulnerable communities

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Rhodes worked on several projects including MAN (Men as Navigators) for Health, HoMBRes, and CyBER M4M. The objectives of the MAN for Health study was to address the priorities of 3 coalition partners to improve chronic disease and sexual health outcomes among African American and Latino men through multilevel interventions and alleviate gender and racial health disparities. The goal of the second listed project was to reduce the risk of sexually transmitted disease infection among Latino seasonal farmworkers through the development, implementation, and evaluation of HoMBREeS: Hombres Manteniendo Bienestar y Relaciones Saludables (Men maintaining wellness and healthy relationships).

By partnering with staff members, Dr. Rhodes collected evaluation data for a project done by a local AIDS Service Organization and then submitted a proposal to the UNC Center for AIDS Research entitled: "Developing and pilot-testing CyBer M4M: A chat-room-based lay health advisor intervention for men who have sex with men." The primary aim of this project was to develop and pilot-test an Internet-based lay health advisor HIV prevention intervention for men who have sex with men in partnership wtih the Triad Health Project in Greensboro, North Carolina.

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Kevin Robinson, DrPH, MSW, MHA

Kevin Robinson

Current Position:

Assistant Professor

Bryn Mawr College

Philadelphia, PA

Training Site:
University of Michigan School of Public Health

Education:
DrPH, Sociomedical Sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health
MSW, Community Organization/Community and Social Systems, University of Michigan School of Social Work
MHA, Public Health Policy and Administration, Pennsylvania State University
BS, Biological Sciences, Clemson University

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Kevin Robinson has been working with two research projects with the Prevention Research Center (PRC) of Michigan, The Community Capacity Building to Reduce Health Disparities and the 2005 Speak to Your Health! Community Survey and Qualitative Assessment. Both research projects employ community-based participatory research methods to examine social determinants of health and utilizes the conceptual framework of social ecology to understand the individual nested in family, nested in neighborhood, nested in the city. The Prevention Research Center is one of 33 centers nationwide funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Community Capacity Building to Reduce Health Disparities intervention research project is designed to test a model for enhancing Community Based Organizations' capacity to more effectively and equitably partner in local efforts to eliminate health disparities. Dr. Robinson's primary research project involves collaborating with two Community Based Organizational partners that currently provide HIV/AIDS prevention and care services to enhance their capacity to systematically develop and evaluate HIV/AIDS prevention services and interventions in Flint, MI. This collaborative effort resulted in a $25,000 award from The Ruth Mott Foundation for "YOUR Blessed Health", a six-month demonstration project and collaborative effort between YOUR Center and ten Flint area churches with predominately African American congregations. Specifically, the partnership of YOUR Center, ministers and their wives will test the efficacy of an intervention to increase sexual health knowledge and skills of adolescents, aged 11-19.

Dr. Robinson's secondary research project employs focus group methodology to further explore the preliminary sexual health findings from the 2005 Speak to Your Health! Community Survey. Specifically, the project probes the apparent disconnect between self-reported higher HIV testing rates and condom usage, and lower STI testing rates for African American women, aged 18-24, in Flint, MI. The ultimate goal of the project is to mobilize African American communities to find innovative ways to reduce HIV/AIDS morbidity and mortality, and to encourage local governments and communities to expand and strengthen their responses, community awareness, leadership, civic engagement and support for HIV/AIDS prevention.

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Caryn Rodgers, PhD, MA

Kevin Robinson Training Site:
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

Education:
Ph.D., Clinical Child Psychology, St. John's University

 




Caryn Rodgers was working on the project “Steppin’ UP” a school based intervention with the middle schools surrounding Johns Hopkins University medical campus. Steppin Up is intended to increase interest in academics and reduce aggression and violence in students. Dr. Rodgers was responsible for developing the Parent Advisory Group and conducting the intervention groups and developed the curriculum for the pilot intervention to train parents in communicating with their children around violence and conflict management and to increase parental monitoring. Caryn used Community Based Participatory Research principles and practices to create the Parent Advisory Group (PAG), a group comprised of parents of middle school students. Based on information she gathers from the PAG and from interviews, she developed a pilot intervention to address parental monitoring and parent-child communication regarding violence specific to the African American inner-city community in Baltimore City whose neighborhoods are characterized by high rates of violence.

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Michael Royster, MD, MPH

Michael Royster Current Position: CHANGE
District Director
Crater Health District
Virginia Department of Health

Training Site:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Education:
MD, School of Medicine, Duke University of Medicine
MPH, School of Hygiene & Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
BA, Biology, University of Virginia

Research Interests:
Men’s Health, Community Partnerships, Health Disparities

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Royster worked with a community-based organization and a coalition of community representatives to develop an initiative to improve the health of African American men in Raleigh, NC. He conducted focus groups and used them as a basis for the issues that they will target. Dr. Royster also worked on the evaluation of a community-based chronic disease prevention project. The evaluation will determine changes in behaviors, community capacity, and cultural norms that result from the interventions. As well, he has also conducted an assessment of this community-based organization and its members to develop recommendations that would contribute to improving the organization’s functions.

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Yamir Salabarría-Peña, DrPH

Yamir Salabarría-Peña Current Position:
Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Division of Adolescent and School Health
Surveillance and Evaluation Research Branch

Training Site:
University of Michigan

Education:
Dr.PH., Health Education, Loma Linda University
MPH, Health Education, University of Puerto Rico
BS, Health Education, University of Puerto Rico

Research Interests:
Maternal child health in Latino communities

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
As a Community Health Scholar Dr. Salabarría-Peña immersed in CBPR projects that involved underserved populations such as African American and Latinos living in Detroit, Michigan for the purpose of reducing ethnic health disparities. This required the participation of the communities affected. The projects Dr. Salabarría-Peña was a part of are affiliated with a partnership composed of individuals from the academia, health department, and community health organizations represented by individuals from communities where the projects are being conducted. The projects also have steering committees (academic, community and health service partners) that participated in developing interview protocols, identifying group facilitators and participants, interpreting results, disseminating findings in the community, and designing interventions. Discrimination, racism, organizational structure, culture, community’s low-educational levels were issues, which if not addressed may have had a number of adverse results. These might have included projects coming to a standstill, dissolution of partners, limited longevity of projects, lack of communication between partners involved, increased community underlying mistrust, and limited community empowerment and development.

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Lisa Benz Scott, Ph.D, MS

Lisa Benz Scott Current Position: CHANGE
Clinical Associate Professor
State University of New York at Stony Brook
School of Health Care Policy and Management

Training Site:
Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health

Education:
PhD, School of Hygiene & Public Health, Johns Hopkins University
MS, Department of Health, Kinesiology, and Leisure Studies, Division of Health Promotion, Purdue University
BA, Psychology, State University of New York at Stony Brook

Research Interests:
Gender & race/ethnic disparities in health care (particularly related to cardiac disease prevention & rehabilitation), Health communications & translation research, Participatory research methods & evaluation

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Benz Scott worked with a team of scientists, clinicians, community health workers, and case workers to transition over 300 men from participating in a randomized clinical trial to treat and control high blood pressure to a community-owned clinical practice setting. Dr. Benz Scott was responsible for organizing, facilitating, and working closely with both academic and community partners. She also partnered with the Johns Hopkins University Urban Health Institute and the Maryland Institute for Cultural Arts to develop and disseminate health messages based on the results of this research. Other projects included creating health education materials for East Baltimore residents faced with demolition of row houses in their community, and established a community advisory board to address barriers affecting womens’ ability to maximize the benefits of outpatient cardiac rehabilitation.

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I. Shevon Harvey, DrPH

I. Shevon Harvey Current Position:
Assistant Professor
Department of Kinesiology and Community Health
College of Applied Health Sciences
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Training Site:
University of Michigan

Education:
DrPH, Public Health, University of Pittsburgh
MPH, Public Health, Morehouse School of Medicine
BS, Ceramic Engineering, Clemson University

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Harvey worked with the Healthy Environments Partnership (HEP) in writing a grant evaluating the relationship that influences physical activity and the built environment to reduce the prevalence of overweight and obesity. Another primary project was with the Village Health Worker Project (VHWP) to evaluate the dissemination of diabetes and cardiovascular disease information by the Healthy Connection Advocates (HCAs) through informal social networks. As a secondary project, Dr. Harvey worked with REACH Detroit to evaluate the collaboration process between the Spanish speaking and non-Spanish speaking health workers.

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Dionne Smith-CokerAppiah, PhD, MA Ed

I. Shevon Harvey Current Position:

Training Site:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health

Education:
Ph.D., Psychology, The University of Tennessee-Knoxville

 

Dionne Smith-CokerAppiah was engaged in CBPR research that focused specifically on minority health and health disparities. She worked on an NCMHD funded CBPR research project entitled Project GRACE: A Participatory Approach to Address Health Disparities. GRACE is an acronym for Growing, Reaching, Advocating for Change & Empowerment. The project’s current focus is on reducing the spread of HIV in two counties in North Carolina: Edgecombe and Nash. The Project GRACE Consortium guided her research and is comprised of a collaborative partnership that draws on the strengths of community, academic and public partners who are all committed to on-going planning, implementation, and evaluation of a pilot intervention to reduce the spread of HIV. Dr. Smith-CokerAppiah represents the academic research community. She contributed to various research and capacity building activities across all phases of the project including assisting with grant-writing in an effort to further extend the project by securing funding for long-term intervention testing.

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Diane Marie St. George, Ph.D, MA

Diane Marie St. George Current Position:
Assistant Professor

University of Maryland Baltimore

Baltimore, MD



Training Site:
University of North Carolina

Education:
Ph.D, Epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
MA, Health Education, University of Maryland at College Park
BS, Zoology & Psychology, University of Maryland at College Park

Research Interests:
Social disparities in health and distance education

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. St. George’s major project was entitled "Assessing the Relationships Between Health Service Organizations and the Communities They Serve." That study was based upon the U.S. organizational competence research being conducted by Dr. St. George’s CHSP mentor, Dr. Eugenia Eng, and her colleagues. The goal of Dr. Eng’s project was to examine organizational competence, specifically the ability of health service organizations to effectively interact with the communities they serve in order to identify and respond to their needs. The purpose of Dr. St. George’s exploratory study was to evaluate the extent to which the dimensions of organizational competence are manifest in a Caribbean country community, specifically in the institutions that were involved in alcohol and other drug abuse (AOD) prevention. Work for this study was conducted in conjunction with the members of the study community, namely a community AOD prevention "action group". Qualitative data were collected by semi-structured face-to-face interviews with representatives of various health-related organizations in the community. Data analysis is currently underway, and the results of this study are expected to contribute to an understanding of how the dimensions of organizational competence may vary by community and health outcome.

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Larkin Strong, PhD, MPH

Diane Marie St. George Current Position:

Training Site:
University of Michigan School of Public Health

Education:
PhD, University of Washington of Maryland at College Park

 

Larkin Strong worked primarily with the Healthy Environments Partnership on the CATCH project, which aims to reduce disparities in cardiovascular disease by engaging community residents, community-based organizations, health and human service providers, academic researchers, and policy and decision makers in a community assessment process. This process will lead to the implementation and evaluation of a multilevel pilot intervention that will address three target areas – access to healthy foods, access to physical activity, and air quality. The pilot intervention will provide a strong foundation on which to base a larger grant to fund the full-scale intervention

She also worked with the Community Action Against Asthma partnership, which seeks to reduce household and environmental exposures associated with asthma in children. She researched the association between neighborhood stressors and caregivers' smoking behavior and/or quality of life.

In addition to her projects she also worked with Dr. Edie Kieffer in the School of Social Work to develop and deliver a new course in community-based participatory research.

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Mansoureh Tajik, PhD

Mansoureh Tajik Current Position:
Assistant Professor
Department of Community Health and Sustainability
University of Massachusetts at Lowell

Training Site:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Education:
Ph.D, Progress Health & Behavioral Sciences, University of Colorado-Denver
MS, Environmental Science, University of Colorado-Denver
BS, Biology, University of Texas-Arlington

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Main project: "Meaning and Action: Living near an Industrial Hog Operation"
Role: Principal Investigator and a partner in a collaborative process with the Concerned Citizens of Tillery in Tillery, North Carolina. The purpose of the study was: 1) to describe how community members living in close proximity to industrial hog operations manage activities of their daily living in chronic presence, or anticipation, of hog odor emanating from these operations; 2) to assess what presence of a hog operation and hog odor means to them and their community; and 3) to determine what steps the community members are willing to take to mitigate their situation.

Research clerkships:
Community Health Effects of Industrial Hog Operations (CHEIHO) – The overall goals of this CBPR project were to characterize off-site exposures from swine confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in North Carolina and to evaluate their associations with sensation of odor and irritation, peak expiratory flow, physical symptoms, mood, and health-related quality of life.
Role: data analysis and interpretation, community reports, and community presentations.
Impacts of Community-Based Participatory Research on Health Promoting Public Policy (ICPP) – The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the structure and process of public policymaking by each CBPR project site.
Role: Member of the advisory board, and conducting interviews, focus groups, and data analysis on the project.

Other Activities:

Member of North Carolina Environmental Justice Network and involved in the network’s activities. The NCEJ network’s goals are to promote health and environmental equality for all people of North Carolina through community action for clean industry, safe work places, and fair access to all human and natural resources.
Involved in Community Health and Environmental Reawakening (CHER) project. The project’s goals and activities have led the communities to mobilize, become aware of environmental health issues and be proactive and able to define their own issues, and to be able to participate equally with providers and scientists.

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Duane Thomas, PhD

Duane Thomas Current Position:
Assistant Professor
Applied Psychology and Human Development Division
Graduate School of Education
University of Pennsylvania
Co-Investigator
Philadelphia Collaborative Violence Prevention Center (PCVPC)

Training Site:
Johns Hopkins University

Education:
Ph.D, Clinical Child Psychology, Pennsylvania State University
MS, Clinical Child Psychology, Pennsylvania State University
BS, Psychology, Virginia Tech University

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Thomas’ project included developing a parenting module to current psychoeducational preventive-intervention programs housed at the Door, a faith-based, non-profit community organization that provides multiple services and programs to improve the lives of children, youth, and families in the East Baltimore community. A second project involved an initiative with City Springs Elementary, a primary school in East Baltimore. The service-learning initiative seeks to establish an interdisciplinary family support team to work with parents of children who are chronically tardy for school.

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Andriette Ward, MD, MPH

Andriette Ward Current Position:
Pediatrician
Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism
Childrens Hospital Los Angeles

Training Site:
University of North Carolina

Education:
MD, Case Western Reserve University Medical School
MPH, Health Services, University of California - Los Angeles
BA, Anthropology, Yale University

Research Interests:
Pediatric Medicine, Adolescent Nutrition, & Physical Activity

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Ward joined with the Body Shop, a school-based adolescent health clinic that provides accessible, affordable acute and preventive care to roughly 85% of the student population of Horton Middle School in Chatham County, North Carolina to develop a plan to promote nutrition and physical activity in this area where 30% of the students are overweight with a BMI greater than 95%. An additional 18% of the students are at-risk, with a BMI between 85% and 95%.

The objectives of the project were to 1) identify specific environmental changes that can be implemented to improve the nutrition and physical activity of Horton Middle School students, 2) identify ways the Body Shop can facilitate better eating habits and physical activity among Horton Middle School students, 3) identify other community resources available to students and families and 4) to help link students with existing community services.

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DeWitt Webster, PhD

DeWitt Webster Current Position:
 

Training Site:
University of Michigan

Education:
Ph.D, Bio-Behavioral Health, Pennsylvania State University
MPH, Health Education, University of Minnesota School of Public Health
BA, Community Health, University of Minnesota-Morris

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Webster served as a member of the Evaluation Team with the Genesee County REACH 2010 Project, which aims to reduce the infant mortality disparity between black and white infants in the county by focusing on multileveled initiatives (personal, professional, organizational) related to racism that contribute to the disparity. He specifically assessed the organizational dynamics of the REACH 2010 partnership through questionnaires, interviews and meeting observations. Dr. Webster also assisted with the analysis and application of the Prevention Research Center of Michigan’s Speak to Your Health! Community Survey, a telephone survey designed to gain an understanding of Genesee County residents’ health and community perceptions.

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Deanna Perez Williams, Ph.D, CHES, MA

Deanna Perez Williams Current Position:
Boston Mountain Educational Cooperative Migrant Education Coordinator
Associated with Howard University School of Medicine

Training Site:
Johns Hopkins University

Education:
Ph.D, Health Science, University of Arkansas
MA, Medical Anthropology, Southern Methodist University
BA, American History/Telecommunications, Cameron University

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Since asthma was identified as a major health disparity by the Hispanic Apostolate, a Baltimore CBO, this provided an opportunity for Dr. Williams to partner with Johns Hopkins University and Howard University to design and implement the following CBPR project: "Developing an Asthma Communication Instrument with the Baltimore Hispanic Community." This CBPR project is a component of a current 5-year Howard/Hopkins Center for Reducing Asthma Disparities NHLBI research project. The overall goal is to reduce the disproportionate burden of asthma experienced by inner-city minorities. The goal for developing the Asthma Communication Instrument is to improve patient-provider communication in assessing asthma severity in minority populations in order to assign appropriate treatment.

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Sharla Willis, Dr.PH., MPH, MA

v Current Position:
Assistant Professor
Health Behavior and Health Promotion
Ohio State University School of Public Health

Training Site:
University of Michigan

Education:
Dr.PH., Community Health Sciences, University of Illinois-Chicago
MPH, University of California-Los Angeles
MA, Latin American Studies, University of California-Los Angeles

Research Interests:
Latino Women's Health

Community Health Scholars Program Project:
Dr. Willis worked on two projects in Detroit, MI aimed at reducing diabetes and cardiovascular disease risks in Latino and African-American communities. The first, Hispanic Women’s Perspectives on Physical Activity and Health, used a series of focus groups to develop a diabetes risk reduction intervention with Latino women during and after pregnancy. In the second, Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) Detroit Partnership, Dr. Willis conducted a formative evaluation using both qualitative and quantitative methods. She participated in training community members to facilitate focus groups with community residents and in analyzing results from these meetings.