Angela Black, PhD
Assistant Professor
Department of Kinesiology and Community Health
University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign
Community Research Summary for Distribution
Stress, "Strength" and Black Women's Preventative Care
Dr. Black is an Assistant Professor in Kinesiology and Community Health (UIUC) who is dedicated to changing existing conversations about black women’s health disparities and outcomes by bringing Black women’s voices and insight about their own health to the center of the discussion. She earned her college degree in Psychology at Tulane University, doctoral degree in Child and Family Development at the University of Georgia, and postdoctoral training at the UIC School of Public Health. Dr. Black is applying the insight gained from Black women’s blogs, magazines and focus group discussions to develop a preventive care model relevant for understanding barriers to breast cancer screening, treatment and survivorship among Black women.
Email: arblack1@illinois.edu
Donna J. Calvin PhD, FNP-BC
Post-Doctoral Research Associate
College of Nursing
University of Illinois at Chicago
Community Research Summary for Distribution
African Americans’ Perception of Risk for Diabetes Complications
Dr. Calvin is a Post-Doctoral Research Associate in the College of Nursing whose research focus is preventing diabetes complications, specifically end stage renal disease (kidney failure). She is a family nurse practitioner and certified nephrology nurse. She was instrumental in developing and managing a chronic kidney disease clinic on the south side of Chicago for the sole purpose of preventing the progression of chronic kidney disease. Dr. Calvin is currently conducting qualitative research focused on identifying protective and risk factors that impact the progression of chronic kidney disease among African Americans with type 2 diabetes. Her long term goal is to develop medical homes for chronic kidney disease patients that are managed by nurses and nurse practitioners.
Email:dcalvi1@uic.edu
Kendon J. Conrad, PhD, MSPH
Professor Emeritus, HPA SPH
University of Illinois at Chicago
& Senior Research Scientist
Chestnut Health Systems,
Normal, Illinois
Community Research Summary for Distribution
Elder Abuse Decision Support System
Ken Conrad is Professor Emeritus of Health Policy and Administration in the School of Public Health at UIC where he teaches measurement in health services research. With interests in long-term care, mental illness, substance abuse, and measurement, he has published over seventy papers and edited six books. He has been the leader on grants from many federal agencies and private foundations. He currently works with Dr. Michael Dennis at Chestnut Health Systems as Senior Research Scientist under a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Dr. Conrad and Dr. Madelyn Iris, Research Director at CJE Senior Life, have been awarded three grants from the National Institute of Justice to measure elder abuse and develop a decision support system and from the Retirement Research Foundation for an elder self-neglect assessment system.
Email: kjconrad@uic.edu
Constance M. Dallas, PhD, RN
Associate Professor
Department of Health Systems Science
UIC College of Nursing
Community Research Summaries for Distribution
Keeping Unmarried, African American Adolescent Fathers Involved with Their Children
Constance M. Dallas is an Associate Professor in the College of Nursing who examines involvement for low-income African American fathers with their children by collecting the viewpoints of family members and extended family members. Most recently she interviewed unmarried, low-income African American adolescent father, their parents/surrogate parents, the adolescent mothers of their babies, and the parents/surrogate parents of the mothers of their babies. She found that the paternal grandmothers' (adolescent father's mother) support of adolescent fathers may be essential to keeping the adolescent fathers involved with their babies. Dr. Dallas is presently examining father involvement within low-income African American families that include children who share the same biological father but have different biological mothers. She is again collecting viewpoints on father involvement from the multiple perspectives of their families, the mothers of their children, extended family members, and selected peers of the fathers. Her research has been presented both nationally and internationally and has been published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals. (For detailed bio Click Here)
Barbara L. Dancy, PhD, RN, FAAN
Professor
Department of Health Systems Science
Associate Dean for Nursing Science Studies
Email: bdancy@uic.edu
Kimberley Dawn Lakes, PhD
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics
School of Medicine
Associate Director of CEU, Institute for
Clinical and Translational Science
School of Medicine
Community Research Summaries for Distribution
Engaging Diverse Communities in the National Children's Study
Dr. Kimberley Lakes is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of California, Irvine. Dr. Lakes is the Associate Director for Community Engagement in the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science and is also the lead investigator for bioethics as well as community outreach and engagement for the UC Irvine Vanguard Center for the National Children’s Study, a 21-year study of child health and development. She has received a number of research awards, including the National Institutes of Health’s Health Disparities Loan Repayment Award and the University of Wisconsin, Madison School of Education’s Outstanding Recent Graduate Award. In 2009, she was elected into the Society for Pediatric Research. Her current research addresses bioethical issues and the inclusion of underrepresented populations in research; in addition, she is studying the experiences, perceptions, attitudes and values that are brought to bear when individuals from different racial and cultural backgrounds consider participating in biomedical research and issues that foster or diminish trust in researchers and institutions.
(For detailed bio Click Here)
E-mail: klakes@uci.edu
Taryn Y. Eastland, PhD, RN, FNP
UIC, post-doctorate Fellow
University of Illinois at Chicago
Great Cities Institute
Community Research Summaries for Distribution
"The Eastland Prostate Cancer Survey: A tool for African American Women"
Taryn Y. Eastland, Ph.D., RN, FNP is a post-doctorate fellow on the Health Disparities in Underserved Populations Training Grant at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Dr. Eastland earned her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Nursing from Purdue University Calumet (PUC). As a result of her outstanding achievement, she was selected as the first student from PUC to receive the Bridges to Doctorate for Minority Students Grant. Dr. Eastland earned her Ph.D. in Nursing Science from UIC. Her research interest focuses on improving prostate cancer screening rates among African American men by developing and testing culturally appropriate interventions to empower African American women to discuss prostate cancer screening with their husband or boyfriend.
Email: tgrant2@uic.edu
Alan R. Factor, PhD
Research Assistant Professor,
Department of Disability and Human
Development
Associate Director, Training and
Dissemination of the Rehabilitation
Research and Training Center on
Aging with Mental Retardation
Community Research Summaries for Distribution
Aging in Place Project
Alan R. Factor, Ph.D., is Associate Director for Training and Dissemination of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Aging with Mental Retardation and is a Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Disability and Human Development, University of Illinois at Chicago. Dr. Factor has conducted national studies of innovative services and community supports for older adults with developmental disabilities. He has directed projects funded by the Administration on Aging and the Administration on Developmental Disabilities to promote later life planning by adults with developmental disabilities and their families. Dr. Factor is on the Leadership Council of the Aging, Disability and Rehabilitation Network of the American Society on Aging, is a Disciplinary Director of the Illinois Geriatric Education Center, and chaired the Mental Retardation Special Interest Group of the Gerontological Society of America. He has been a consultant on aging and developmental disabilities to the Rehabilitation Accreditation Commission, the Oregon Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Service Division, the Illinois Department on Aging, and the American Association of Retired Persons. Dr. Factor has lectured widely and has co-authored several articles on aging and developmental disabilities and was a co-editor and contributor to Older Adults with Developmental Disabilities: Optimizing Choice and Change.
(For detailed bio Click Here)
E-mail:
AFactor@uic.edu
Michael C. Fagen PhD, MPH
Clinical Assistant Professor
School of Public Health
University of Illinois at Chicago
Community Research Summary for Distribution
The Suburban Cook County Communities Putting Prevention to Work (CPPW) Obesity Prevention Initiative Case Study Evaluation
Dr. Michael Fagen is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the UIC SPH’s Community Health Sciences Division, where he directs the MidAmerica Center for Public Health Practice. Dr. Fagen’s research focuses on school health promotion, community-based prevention, and policy-to-practice translation.
Email:mfagen1@uic.edu
Carol Estwing Ferrans, PhD, RN,
FAAN
Professor, UIC College of Nursing
Deputy Director, UIC Center for
Population Health & Health Disparities
Community Research Summaries for Distribution
Finding Breast Cancer Too Late--The Role of Beliefs
Beating Breast Cancer, University of Illinois at Chicago
Dr. Ferrans is a recognized expert in quality-of-life issues in health care. She is well known for the Ferrans and Powers Quality of Life Index, which was first published in 1985, is available in 12 languages, and has been used in more than 18 countries. Dr. Ferrans maintains an active program of research, studying the effects of illness and treatment on quality of life in cancer, cardiac disease, and other chronic illnesses. Dr. Ferrans' work also has focused on cross-cultural assessment of quality of life, including approaches to increasing data validity and research participation for minority populations in the United States. Her research has been funded by NCI and the National Institute for Nursing Research (NINR), and she has received a number of awards for her work. (For detailed bio Click Here)
Vincent L. Freeman, MD, MPH
Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
UIC School of Public Health
Community Research Summaries for Distribution
The Chicago Prostate Cancer Survival Study
Dr. Freeman is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the UIC School of Public Health. He earned his college and medical degrees from the University of Chicago, completed a medical residency in general internal medicine at Northwestern University, and received a Masters of Public Health from the UIC School of Public Health. Dr. Freeman’s research focuses on the causes and remedies of health disparities by race and place from biological, sociological, and health care services perspectives.
Email: Freem981@uic.edu
P. Rafael Hernandez-Arias, PhD
Assistant Professor, Braneis University
Health/Illness/Medicine, Social Theory and
Methods of Social Research
Community Research Summaries for Distribution
Voices from the Community: Is there a Healthy Immigrant Paradox?
My fields of specialization are: sociology of health, illness, and medicine; sociology of science; and comparative health policy analysis. My work in health research and health policy began with a paper I wrote as an undergraduate student at Hunter College. The paper was an analysis of how social organization has a direct relationship with health outcomes. After a successful revolution in 1979, the Nicaragua government made health a national priority. Within ten years, such prioritization contributed to improving key national health indicators. This early research experience set the premise that still guides my teaching and research: the ways in which a society is organized have direct effects on the ways in which individuals living in such a society experience health, illness, and medicine. I am currently interested in understanding the relationship between larger forms of social organization, such as the ongoing economic and cultural expansion, often called globalization, and the experience of health, illness and medicine. (For detailed bio Click Here)
E-mail: phernan8@depaul.edu
Chisina Kapungu Ph.D
Assistant Professor
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology
University of Illinois at Chicago
Community Research Summaries for Distribution
Faith-based HIV prevention with African American mothers and daughters
Dr. Chisina Kapungu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research is focused on the development and evaluation of culturally-sensitive HIV prevention programs for high-risk populations. She has received a number of research awards, including the American Psychological Association HIV/AIDS Research Fellowship, the African American Mental Health Research Scientist Consortium Award, the National Institute of Drug Abuse’s HIV Prevention Research Training Fellowship (T32), the National Institutes of Health’s Health Disparities Loan Repayment Award and the Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (K01). Dr. Kapungu is currently conducting qualitative research focused on identifying and defining psychosocial determinants for engagement in concurrent partnerships among men and women in Zimbabwe. Her long-term goal is to develop and disseminate culturally sensitive HIV primary and secondary prevention programs in the United States and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Email:ckapungu@psych.uic.edu
Michele A. Kelley, ScD, MSW, MA
Associate Professor
Community Health Sciences
UIC School of Public Health
Dr. Michele Kelley is a social scientist and Associate Professor in the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, Division of Community Health Sciences and Maternal and Child Health Program. She is a social worker by training, with research and teaching interests in adolescent health, youth-led health promotion and action research, community youth development and community based participatory research (CBPR). Her teaching methodology involves out-of-classroom experiences in Chicago neighborhoods where students can encounter real world challenges to improving neighborhood health and engage in dialogue with local residents and leaders. How local youth can contribute meaningfully to improving their own environments and building their communities is a critical element of this discussion. She is active in several national organizations and editorial boards and is leading development of a pipeline for high school youth to enter public health and related careers.
Dr. Kelley received her Doctorate in Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Heath and her dual masters degrees in Social Work and Public Administration for the Ohio State University College of Social work and the OSU John Glenn School of Public Affairs.
Email: makelley@uic.edu
Charles W. LeHew, PhD
Research Scientist
Institute for Health
Research and Policy
Community Research Summaries for Distribution
Collaboration and Reciprocity: Meeting Respective Needs and Creating Further Opportunities—A Project with African-American Men
Informational brochures on prevention and oral cancer exams:
Urban
Rural
En Español
Dr. LeHew’s work focuses on community-based approaches to cancer prevention and control, emphasizing oral and pharyngeal cancers. He works with community partnerships around the state of Illinois to design, implement, and evaluate community-based oral cancer programs which include public health education, provider training, and early detection screening programs. Dr. LeHew is interested in how community partnerships form and behave, and their impact on community health.
(For detailed bio Click Here)
E-mail: lehew@uic.edu
Thomas Lyons, PhD
Director
HIV/AIDS Research and Policy Institute,
Chicago State University
Research Scholar, University of Illinois at
Chicago Great Cities Institute
Community Research Summaries for Distribution
C-TALK: HIV Prevention for Men Who Have Sex with Men and Who Use Stimulants
Tom Lyons is currently conducting research to develop and test an HIV prevention intervention for substance-using men that is focused on healthy sexuality and community building. His interests include evaluating drug treatment programs, HIV education and care for jail and prison inmates, and qualitative methods. Among other topics he has written on narrative ambiguity in ethnography, health literacy, social capital building for returning prisoners, and the role of 12 step support groups in HIV risk reduction. Lyons holds a doctorate in cultural anthropology from the University of Chicago, and did postdoctoral work in medical anthropology at the George Washington University. (For detailed bio Click Here)
Email: thlyons@uic.edu
Angela Odoms-Young, PhD
Assistant Professor,
Kinesiology and Nutrition
Member, UIC Cancer Center
Cancer Control and Population
Science Research Program
University of Illinois at Chicago
Great Cities Institute
Community Research Summaries for Distribution
“When We Have Better, We Can Do Better”
Angela M. Odoms-Young, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in Kinesiology and Nutrition at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Odoms-Young earned a B.S. degree in foods and nutrition from the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University in human nutrition and community nutrition, respectively. Prior to her position at UIC, she was a faculty member in Public Health and Health Education at Northern Illinois University. She completed a Family Research Consortium Postdoctoral Fellowship examining family processes in diverse populations at The Pennsylvania State University and University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Community Health Scholars Fellowship in community-based participatory research at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. (For detailed bio Click Here)
Email: odmyoung@uic.edu
Garth H. Rauscher PhD
Associate Professor
Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics,
UIC School of Public Health
Dr. Rauscher is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology in the UIC School of Public Health. He earned his Bachelor’s degree from SUNY Albany, his MPH from Yale University, and his PhD from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Dr. Rauscher’s research focuses on the social and biological underpinnings of disparities in breast and colon cancer.
Email: garthr@uic.edu
Cristina Silva
Amalia Turkewitz
(Master's Students)
Department of Urban
Planning and Policy
UIC - College of Urban
Planning and Public Affairs
Community Research Summaries for Distribution
Opportunities and Barriers to Local Food Production in the Greater Chicago Region
Cristina Silva
Cristina Silva is a Master's student in Urban Planning and Policy who has been enthusiastically involved in local urban farms and urban agriculture research for the last three years. CEED@Chicago has facilitated and supported her work as a Research Assistant focused on gathering data on the regional perspective of urban agriculture for use in a CEED@Chicago Technical Assistance workshop. Through her work she has been able to interview urban planners and urban agriculture practitioners for information about the opportunities and challenges regarding urban agriculture. She has presented this information to local urban planners and will continue to disseminate the findings and work toward the creation of a replicable workshop tool kit. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts and will complete her Master's degree in Urban Planning and Policy in May 2012.
Amalia Turkewitz
Amalia Turkewitz is pursuing her masters in Urban Planning and Policy at UIC's College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs. Amalia is especially interested in food policy, built environment and healthy active living. Her experiences working as a research assistant collecting data with Bridging the Gap Study and performing data analysis with CEED@Chicago, has allowed her to fully delve into her interests. She is excited to continue working with CEED@Chicago to advocate for local food production in the Greater Chicago Region.
Email:srcastil@uic.edu
Sandy Slater, PhD, MS
Research Assistant Professor
Division of Health Policy and Administration,
UIC School of Public Health
Community Research Summary for Distribution
The Association between Home and Neighborhood Environments and Youth Physical Activity and Obesity
Sandy Slater, PhD is a research assistant professor in the Division of Health Policy and Administration, UIC School of Public Health and a research scientist in the Health Policy Center, UIC Institute for Health Research and Policy. She conducts her research at the UIC Institute for Health Research and Policy with a grant from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. Her research examines how environmental factors and policies can reduce modifiable risk factors such as physical inactivity, obesity, tobacco use and substance abuse in minority and underserved populations. She has over 14 years’ experience as a PI or co-investigator on several studies in developing and collecting environmental and policy measures, and public health research and evaluation experience including expertise and experience in: community-based research; childhood obesity, youth physical activity, adolescent substance use, and other chronic disease-related issues; and, public health policy research and evaluation at the federal, state, and local levels of government.
Email: sslater@uic.edu
Dr. Teri Strenski
Public Health Researcher
Community Research Summaries for Distribution
Differences in the Conceptualization of Medical Mistrust among African Americans and Whites of Low Socioeconomic Standing
Dr. Strenski is an experienced public health researcher. She recently earned her PhD in public health sciences from the School of Public Health at UIC. Her research interests include health disparities, community engagement, public health and research ethics, social and cultural aspects of health behaviors, medical decision making, and HIV prevention.
Email: teri.strenski@gmail.com
Karriem Watson, MPH, MS
Director of Recruitment
Retention and Community Engagement in Clinical
Research
University of Illinois at Chicago
Community Research Summary for Distribution
Supporting Engagement & Enrollment in Clinical Trials S.E.E.C.
Karriem S. Watson is the Director of Recruitment, Retention and Community Engagement in Clinical Research for the CCTS at UIC. He has over 13 years of experience in clinical and translational research having worked in both industry and academic settings. Prior to joining the CCTS, Karriem was the Research Manager in the Department of Neurosurgery at UIC overseeing NIH studies and over 33 investigator initiated and industry sponsored studies around stroke, brain tumors and aneurysms. His hope is to use his MPH that he also holds from UIC School of Public Health to add a public health framework to the engagement of underrepresented communities in clinical research. He also hopes to address issues of training and lack of minority investigators by providing training and clinical research exposure opportunities to students as early as 8th grade. In addition to his work at the CCTS, Karriem also serves as an instructor in the Graduate College at Northwestern University and an instructor in the College of Health Sciences at DePaul University. He has presented best practices in community engagement and training in clinical research at several national conferences.
Email: ksadot@hotmail.com