We congratulate the following Scholars accepted to the Community Track of the KHSP for Fall 2006 and their training sites: - GiShawn Mance
- Caryn Rodgers
University of Michigan School of Public Health - Shawn Kimmel
- Larkin Strong
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health
Scholars accepted into the Community Health Scholars Program (CHSP) previously are listed below (click on each name for additional information).
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Training Site:
University of Michigan Education:
Ed.D, 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 is currently working on a 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 is being made. This project is 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: - Develop culturally and linguistically (Spanish and English) appropriate materials and methods that promote and support moderate physical activity among African American and Latino women.
- Develop materials that are useful for women with low literacy levels; and include images, terminology, and role models with whom the women can identify.
- Evaluate the acceptability and usefulness of the materials by pregnant African American and Latino women residing in Detroit communities.
As the Project Manager she works with a community committee that has been formed to create the materials previously mentioned. Dr. Dudley-Brewster will also be responsible for evaluating the materials which includes 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 is working is 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 will be an 18-month pilot that will assess the program development and evaluation issues. The project will produce 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 will be working to secure funding for this project and with different stages of program implementation.
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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. Currently at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Doctor Kim is utilizing her expertise in nutrition, religion, other psychosocial factor, and body weight to promote health.
In her primary project, Doctor Kim is collaborating 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 will address several levels of the ecological model, including individual, church and community. The program will also have a holistic focus including the health of body, mind, and spirit. Formative research will ensure that the intervention tools are culturally appropriate to the faith community. After formative research, the intervention will be implemented and evaluated.
Doctor Kim is 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 has 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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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 is currently working 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 envisions 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 intends to create a better quality of life for Siler City residents. Dr. Mason’s objectives are 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 will be collaborating 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 is also working 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 is working with the CCPHD staff to create a surveillance system to evaluate the DR Process. Additionally, she is aligning the Cultural and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health Care Standards with the organization’s DR Action Plan. With the agency’s staff, she will 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 is Dr. Mason’s Research Clerkship for the CHSP, the MAN (Men as Navigators) for Health Project. Her primary role in this project will be 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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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 is actively applying CBPR methods to each of these areas of research. Specifically, Dr. Miles is working 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 will be working 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 will involve 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 will be 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 is also part of a research team for a study funded by the Susan G. Komen Foundation that seeks to determine if a faith-based participatory intervention can increase breast health care among African American women living in Baltimore. Eight churches in Baltimore are participating in this study and each church has elected one woman to serve as a program coordinator for the study. These lay health workers are part of the research team and are responsible for organizing a Women’s Health Day Program at their church with a focus on breast cancer health and prevention. Dr. Miles has 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 is affiliated with the Morgan-Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions. |
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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 is 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 is 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. Current project goals are: 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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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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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 Colorad-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 our study is: 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 are 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 is 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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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 is 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 involves 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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Training Site:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Education:
DrPH, Population and Family Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
MPH, Maternal and Child Health, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
BA, Fine Arts, Dickinson College Community Health Scholars Program Project: Dr. Yonas completed his Teaching Clerkship during the 2005 spring semester as the Co-Instructor for the graduate course, Community Capacity, Competence, and Power, that was co-taught by Diane Calleson, former CHSP Scholar and Clinical Assistant Professor at the UNC School of Public Health’s Public Health Leadership Program, and Geni Eng, CHSP Director and Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education. Moreover, Dr. Yonas is currently engaged in two CBPR projects. He is working with his community mentor, Vanessa Jeffries, and the Chatham County Pubic Health Department (CCPHD) on the ChangeWork’s Dismantling Racism (DR) process, which involves a multilevel approach with a specific focus on institutional-level processes, for reducing racial/ethnic disparities in healthcare. Dr. Yonas is working with the CCPHD in two specific capacities. The first involves engaging CCPHD staff and leadership in the CBPR approach to design and implement a multidimensional surveillance system to monitor changes from their DR process. The second involves adapting the ChangeWork DR process to youth participating in the TeenWorks Teen Center, a CCPHD funded after-school initiative by engaging them, their families, and the Center’s staff in a CBPR approach to design, implement, and evaluate a creative arts-based curriculum. In addition, Dr. Yonas is currently working with his academic mentor, Geni Eng, and the Greensboro Health Disparities Collaborative, a diverse network of 35 community, advocacy, faith-based, healthcare and academic representatives in Greensboro, to understand and address racial disparities in healthcare. This capacity-building initiative combines the CBPR approach with The People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond’s Undoing Racism process, which is based on community organizing and mobilizing principles, and is dedicated to addressing the dynamics of institutionalized racism. This project, to date, has engaged all Collaborative members in: (1) completing training with The People’s Institute to establish a common language and conceptual framework for understanding institutionalized racism; (2) completing training on the CBPR approach; and (3) submitting two R21 grant applications to NIH and one SIP (Special Interest Program) grant application to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to explore and document potential explanations for racial disparities in breast cancer mortality .
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Current Postion:
Assistant Research Scientist
Healthy Lifestyles Project
University of Michigan School of Social Work Training Site:
University of Michigan Education:
PhD, Curriculum and Instruction, University of South Florida
MSPH, Tropical Public Health and Communicable Diseases, University of South Florida
BS, Microbiology and Cell Science, University of Florida Community Health Scholars Program Project: Dr. Carlos Zometa worked with the CDC funded Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health (REACH) in Detroit, Michigan. REACH Detroit is a multi-level project, based on the principles of community-based participatory research (CBPR), which builds capacity to eliminate health disparities associated with diabetes among African American and Latino residents of eastside and southwest Detroit. The five main interventions include: 1. Building capacity of the REACH Detroit Partnership’s Steering Committee (SC), 2. A family level intervention, 3. A health systems intervention, 4. A social support group intervention, and 5. A community level intervention. In particular, Dr. Zometa’s project focused on two of the previous interventions. The first was an intervention and evaluation of capacity building activities of the REACH Detroit partnership’s steering committee. This project provided information about the key aspects related to increasing satisfaction among the partnership and improving their ability to address programmatic activities.The second project was a process evaluation and refinement of the "Journey to Health" diabetes prevention curriculum. The curriculum is a component of the REACH Family intervention and is implemented by two groups of trained community resident Family Health Advocates (FHA) who work individually and in group session with African Americans and Latinos with diabetes. One group of FHAs teaches Spanish and English versions of the curriculum to Latino residents of southwest Detroit. The other group teaches the English version to African American residents in both communities. Literature reviews, interviews, and focus groups with diabetic persons and testing of curriculum materials increased the number of interactive and culturally-based prevention activities.
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