11th Annual Summer Workshop/Course DISPARITIES IN HEALTH IN AMERICA: Working Towards Social Justice
Program Chair: Lovell A. Jones, Ph.D. PVAMU College of Nursing: Betty N. Adams, Ph.D., Dean Dorothy I. Height Center for Health Equity & Evaluation Research
June 17-22, 2013 Prairie View A&M University College of Nursing 6436 Fannin Street Main Auditorium, 1st Floor, Rm. 134 Houston, Texas 77030 11th Annual Disparities in Health in America Workshop: Celebrating Social Entrepreneurs Working Towards Social Justice June 17–22, 2013
n 1999, Congress provided funds for the creation of the 2002, the DH-CHEER and the Texas Program for Society & Health Center for Research on Minority Health (CRMH) now, the at Rice University created what is now referred to as the Health IDorothy I. Height Center for Health Equity and Evaluation Disparities Education, Awareness, Research and Training Research (DH-CHEER). The uniqueness of the DH-CHEER lies (HDEART) Consortium, now numbering 38 institutions. We are partly in its guiding principles which emphasize the related very interested in working with faculty to address recruitment themes of advancing the scientific research base as it pertains to and retention issues as they pertain to minorities and medically health disparities, involving the affected populations in underserved populations. Several DH-CHEER researchers are determining research priorities, and communicating research members of The University of Texas Graduate School of findings to all stakeholders. Current research within the DH- Biomedical Sciences and participate in a number of graduate CHEER focuses on an array of studies, including and not limited training programs.
to childhood obesity and survivorship. To receive updates and other events, please visit our current web The DH-CHEER is also devoted to training graduate students site www.mdanderson.org/CHEER and postdoctoral fellows and providing support to faculty members interested in addressing health disparities issues. In
Distinguished Speakers
The following are some of the distinguished speakers who have volunteered their time to teach in this workshop. It is a list of persons whom you will rarely see on the same program.
Welcome Lovell A. Jones, Ph.D. Greetings from Baylor College of Medicine Director & Professor David J. Hyman, M.D., M.P.H. Dorothy I. Height Center for Health Equity & Professor of Medicine and Family & Community Medicine, Evaluation Research Chief, Section of General Internal Medicine, Baylor College of Founder, Health Disparities, Awareness, Research & Medicine, Houston, TX. Training (HDEART) Consortium The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Greetings from the HDEART Consortium and the Introduction of our Special Guest Greetings from the Dean of College of Nursing Joseph F. Woelkers, M.A. Prairie View A&M University Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff, Associate Betty N. Adams, Ph.D. Professor of Medicine Professor & Dean, Prairie View A&M University UT Health Northeast, Tyler, TX College of Nursing Houston, TX Special Guest The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, J.D. Greetings from The University of Texas 18th Congressional District, Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston, TX Ernest Hawk, M.D., M.P.H. Vice President & Division Head, Division of Cancer Prevention Introduction of Key Note Speaker & Population Sciences S. Leonard Syme, Ph.D. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Professor of Epidemiology and Community Health (Emeritus) Houston, TX School of Public Health University of California, Berkeley, CA
1 Keynote Speaker
Professor Sir Michael G. Marmot M.B.B.S., M.P.H., Ph.D., FRCP, FFPHM, FMedSci, FBA Director: International Institute for Society and Health MRC Research Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health University College London
Michael Marmot has led a research group on health inequalities for the past 30 years. He is Principal Investigator of the Whitehall Studies of British civil servants, investigating explanations for the striking inverse social gradient in morbidity and mortality. He leads the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and is engaged in several international research efforts on the social determinants of health. He chairs the Department of Health Scientific Reference Group on tackling health inequalities. He was a member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution for six years. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and an Honorary Fellow of the British Academy. In 2000 he was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen for services to Epidemiology and understanding health inequalities. Internationally acclaimed, Professor Marmot was a Vice President of the Academia Europaea, and is a Foreign Associate Member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM). He was Chair of the Commission on Social Determinants of Health set up by the World Health Organization in 2005: ‘Closing the Gap in a Generation’. Professor Marmot won the Balzan Prize for Epidemiology in 2004, gave the Harveian Oration in 2006 and won the William B. Graham Prize for Health Services Research in 2008. At the request of the British Government, he conducted a review of health inequalities, which published its report ‘Fair Society, Healthy Lives’ in February 2010. He has now been invited by the Regional Director of WHO Euro to conduct a European review of health inequalities. Sir Michael was elected President of the British Medical Association (BMA) 2010-2011.
2 Chair and Co-Chair
LOVELL A. JONES, PH.D. BETTY N. ADAMS, PH.D. Director & Professor Professor & Dean Dorothy I. Height Center for Health Equity & Evaluation Research Prairie View A&M University College of Nursing Founder, Health Disparities, Awareness, Houston, TX Research & Training (HDEART) Consortium The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Welcome and Opening Speakers
ERNEST HAWK, M.D., M.P.H. JOSEPH F. WOELKERS, M.A. Vice President & Division Head Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff Division of Cancer Prevention & Population Sciences Associate Professor of Medicine The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UT Health Northeast
DAVID J. HYMAN, M.D., M.P.H. THE HONORABLE SHEILA JACKSON LEE, J.D. Professor of Medicine and Familiy & Community Medicine, 18th Congressional District, Texas Chief, Section of General Internal Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine 3
Continuing Education Credits The University of Texas MD Anderson C.H.E.S. Cancer Center Disclosure Policy for The Center for Health Equity and Evaluation Program Chair(s), Planning Committee Research at the University of Texas Members, Teachers, or Authors MD Anderson Cancer Center is designated a provider of 0.00 Category I continuing The Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education has education contact hours (CECH) in health announced standards and guidelines to insure that individuals education by the National Commission for participating in CME activities are aware of program chair, planning Health Education Credentialing, Inc. committee member, faculty/teacher or author relationships with commercial interests that could potentially affect the information presented. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has implemented a process whereby everyone who is in a position to control the content of an educational activity must disclose all relevant financial relationships with any commercial interest. In compliance with this policy, a superscript number has been placed by the name of the program chair, planning committee member, teacher, or author that lists any affiliation with a commercial interest that may relate to the content of the presentations. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has, through a formal review process, made every attempt to resolve all potential conflicts of interest prior to this activity. For information on this process, please contact the Department of CME/Conference Services at 713-792-5357. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center has implemented a process whereby everyone who is in a position to control the content of an educational activity must disclose all relevant financial relationships with any commercial interest that could potentially affect the information presented. MD Anderson also requires that all faculty disclose any unlabeled use or investigational use (not yet approved for any purpose) of pharmaceutical and medical device products. Specific disclosure will be made to the participants prior to the educational activity. Agendas are subject to change because we are always striving to improve the quality of your educational experience. MD Anderson may substitute faculty with comparable expertise on rare occasions necessitated by illness, scheduling conflicts, and so forth. Please let us know what specific topics, issues, or questions you wish to see addressed or emphasized in this activity. Fax or e-mail CME/ Conference Services. All responses will be forwarded to the Program Chair(s) for consideration. All statements and opinions contained herein are solely those of the individual speakers and may not reflect those of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center does not endorse the commercial products, equipment, or services presented by program supporters/exhibitors. Audiotaping or videotaping is prohibited. Copyright 2006 The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. All rights reserved. No part of this work can be reproduced, distributed, or otherwise used without the express permission from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.
4 Educational Goals and Objectives
Goal Academic Credit The goal of the Annual Disparities in Health Summer Workshop/ Academic credit will be provided to Health Disparities Education, Course is to provide a comprehensive understanding of health Awareness, Research and Training (HDEART) Consortium disparities, to investigate approaches to enhancing health equity, member students (Rice, TSU, UH, UHD, PVAMU, etc.) who and to provide participants with a broad base of knowledge related register for a “Special Topic Elective” at their institution and to a bio-psychosocial approach in addressing health disparities in a obtain approval from their departmental faculty advisor. Upon minority and the medically underserved populations. completion of the six-day Summer Workshop, a “Certificate of Attendance” will be given to each student and upon satisfying individual institutional requirements, 3:00 academic credit units Educational Objectives will be awarded. At the conclusion of the Summer Workshop, participants should be able to: r Acquire introductory knowledge and experience related to Evaluation various determinants of health, A course evaluation form will provide participants with the r Examine and understand the latest research findings about opportunity to review each session and speaker, to identify unequal treatment and control of chronic disease among US future educational needs, and to provide feedback to the populations, Summer Workshop organizers. r Demonstrate awareness of current and historical factors that contribute to the prevention and control of chronic disease Accreditation/Credit Designation leading to disparities in health among certain populations, We have applied to the following organizations for continuing r Identify the role of health professionals and advocates in education credits: managing chronic diseases and enhancing population-based r National Commission for Health Education Credentialing, Inc. health equity, r Introduce community and state-level resources and available Hotel Accommodations funding to reduce chronic disease and health disparities, We will have two hotel accommodations for participants: r Gain a better understanding of resources available for planning, Marriott Houston Medical Center Hotel policy development, program interpretation and funding to 6580 Fannin Street reduce health disparities. Houston, TX 77030 (713) 796-0080 Target Audience Rates: $139 + taxes r Physicians, nurses and other healthcare professionals SpringHill Suites Marriott r Students and fellows Houston Medical Center/Reliant Park r Social workers and healthcare advocates 1400 Old Spanish Trail r Health educators and community health workers Houston, TX 77054 r Community-based organizations (713) 796-1000 r Civic and governmental leaders Rates: $109 + taxes
Educational Methods Educational methods include lectures, slide show presentations, technical and educational programs, panel discussions, question and answer sessions and networking activities.
Special Assistance Contact the Dorothy I Height Center for Health Equity and Evaluation Research at 713-563-4005 if you have any special dietary or ADA accommodation needs. For more information on the 2013 11th Annual Disparities in Health in America Summer Workshop, please contact [email protected], 713-745-3591. 5 11th Annual Disparities in Health Disparities Education, Health in America: Awareness, Research and Training WORKING TOWARD SOCIAL (HDEART) Consortium Member JUSTICE SUMMER WORKSHOP Institutions June 17 - 22, 2013 r Baylor College of Medicine r City of Houston-Houston Dept. of Health & Human Services Planning Committee r Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University r Lee College Chair: r Meharry Medical College Lovell A. Jones, Ph.D. r Michael E. DeBakey Veterans Administration Director & Professor Dorothy I. Height Center for Health Equity & Medical Center Evaluation Research r Moffitt Cancer Center The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center r Prairie View A&M University r Prairie View A&M University College of Nursing HDEART Consortium Member & Host Institution: r Rice University Betty N. Adams, Ph.D. r San Jacinto College-South Professor & Dean r Texas A&M University Prairie View A & M University College of Nursing r Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi Willie Trotty, Ph.D. r Texas A&M University Health Science Center Vice President & Dean r Texas Department of State Health Services Research & Graduate Studies r Texas Southern University Prairie View A&M University r Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center r Texas Woman’s University Committee Members: r The University of Texas Health Center at Tyler James A. Heggie, M.S. r The University of Texas Health Science Center-Houston Sr. Education Specialist r The University of Texas Health Science Center-San Antonio Dorothy I. Height Center for Health Equity & r The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Evaluation Research r The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center r The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Guadalupe R. Palos, R.N., L.M.S.W., Dr.P.H. at Dallas Assistant Professor r Tulane University Manager, Clinical Protocol Admin, Cancer Survivorship r University of Houston-Main Campus The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center r University of Houston-Downtown r University of New Mexico Abida Solomon, Ph.D. r Instituto Nacional de Salud Publica-Mexico (National Assistant Professor Institute of Public Health) Prairie View A&M University College of Nursing r Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Mexico (University of Francisco Ostolaza the State of Mexico) Program Coordinator r University Autonoma De San Luis Potosi (University CME/Conference Management Autonoma of San Luis Potosi) The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center r (Interested) r University of Miami Karyn K. Harvey, M.P.H. r University of North Texas Health Science Center at Program Coordinator Fort Worth Dorothy I. Height Center for Health Equity & Evaluation Research The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
6 6 PROGRAM Monday, June 17, 2013 - Morning
7:30 a.m.– 1:00 p.m. - Registration
8:00 a.m. - Welcome & Opening Lovell A. Jones, Ph.D. – Director, Dorothy I. Height Center for Health Equity & Evaluation Research, Founder, Health Disparities, Awareness, Research & Training (HDEART) Consortium, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
Greetings from the Dean of College of Nursing Prairie View A&M University Betty N. Adams, Ph.D. – Professor & Dean, College of Nursing Prairie View A&M University, Houston, TX.
Greetings from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Ernest Hawk, M.D., M.P.H. – Vice President & Division Head, Division of Cancer Prevention & Population Sciences, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
Greetings from Baylor College of Medicine David J. Hyman, M.D., M.P.H. – Professor of Medicine and Family & Community Medicine, Chief, Section of General Internal Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.
Greetings from the HDEART Consortium and the Introduction of our Special Guest Joseph F. Woelkers, M.A. – Executive Vice President and Chief of Staff, Associate Professor of Medicine, UT Health Northeast.
The Honorable Sheila Jackson Lee, J.D. – 18th Congressional District, Texas, Houston, TX.
8:45 – 9:00 - Workshop Overview Lovell A. Jones, Ph.D., received his doctorate in 1977 in the field of zoology with an emphasis in endocrinology and tumor biology from the University of California, Berkeley. During his training Dr. Jones was a National Institutes of Health (NIH) pre-doctoral trainee and a Ford Foundation Fellow at the UC Berkeley’s Cancer Research Laboratory. Before joining the Department of Gynecologic Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in 1980, Dr. Jones was an Instructor in the Departments of Physiology and Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences at UCSF. Dr. Jones is presently a Professor in the Department of Health Disparities Research as well as the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at MD Anderson. In 1982, Dr. Jones became a member of the graduate faculty at the University of Texas Graduate School for Biomedical Sciences and now serves as Director of its Reproductive Biology Program. In January 2000, Dr. Jones was named as the first Director of the Congressionally Mandated Center for Research on Minority Health.
Introduction of Video by Professor Sir Michael Marmot, M.B.B.S., M.P.H., Ph.D. S. Leonard Syme, Ph.D. - Professor of Epidemiology and Community Health (Emeritus), School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA.
9:10 - Health Disparities in a Global Context –Video presentation Professor Sir Michael Marmot, M.B.B.S., M.P.H., Ph.D., FRCP, FFPHM, FMedSci, FBA, is the Chair of the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health, and current director of the International Institute for Society and Health. He is also the MRC Research Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at University College London. Professor Marmot has led a research group on health inequalities for the past 30 years. He is Principal Investigator of the Whitehall Studies of British civil servants, investigating explanations for the striking inverse social gradient in morbidity and mortality. He leads the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and is engaged in several international research efforts on the social determinants of health. He chairs the Department of Health Scientific Reference Group on tackling health inequalities. 7 Panelists S. Leonard Syme, Ph.D., is Professor of Epidemiology and Community Health (Emeritus) at the University of California, Berkeley. His major research interest has been psychosocial risk factors such as job stress, social support and poverty. In doing this research, he has studied San Francisco bus drivers; Japanese living in Japan, Hawaii and California; British civil servants; and people living in Alameda County, California. Dr. Syme has written two books and over 160 published papers. He has been a visiting professor at universities in England and Japan. He was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences and has received several honors related to his teaching and research, among them the Lilienfeld Award for Excellence in Teaching, the J.D. Bruce Award from the American College of Physicians for Distinguished Contributions in Preventive Medicine, and the University of California Distinguished Emeritus Professor Award.
Alexandra (Lexi) B. Nolen, Ph.D., M.P.H., is the Director of the Center to Eliminate Health Disparities in the Division of Health Policy and Legislative Affairs and Associate Executive Director of the Coordinating Center for Global Health at The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX. Dr. Nolen holds a doctorate in Medical Humanities, with a focus on ethics and public policy. She has spent several years working with the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization on issues of health equity, including chairing the Equity Working Group of the Health Metrics Network, and most recently served for two years on the WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health.
Health Inequity: An Ongoing Challenge in the Americas Kira Fortune, Ph.D., M.I.H., M.A., B.Sc., has worked more than 15 years in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America in positions related to public health, gender and social determinants of health. Kira spent four years working in the Department of Global Advocacy at The International Planned Parenthood Federation in London and then spent three years with UNICEF in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where she was responsible for the program on Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV. Kira has extensive experience working with and within NGOs, academia as well as in inter-governmental organizations focusing on gender mainstreaming, social determinants of health, reproductive health and rights as well as general public health issues. Prior to moving to Washington DC she was responsible for the International Health Research Network in Denmark with the objective of translating research evidence into policy. In 2008 she joined the Pan-American Health Organization, the regional office of the UN’s World Health Organization, where she is responsible for the social determinants of health. Kira holds a Master’s degree in Anthropology, Development and Gender as well as a Doctorate in Sociology on The Challenge of Gender Mainstreaming for a Contemporary NGO from University of London, England. She also holds a Master’s Degree in International Public Health from Copenhagen University, Denmark.
Robert E. Fullilove, Ed.D., is the Associate Dean for Community and Minority Affairs, Professor of Clinical Sociomedical Sciences and the co-director of the Community Research Group, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He also co-directors the newly formed degree program in Urbanism and Community Health in the Department of Sociomedical Sciences. Dr Fullilove has authored numerous articles in the area of minority health. He has served on the Board of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at the Institute of Medicine (IOM) at the National Academy of Sciences and on five IOM study committees that have produced reports on a variety of topics including substance abuse and addiction, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and damp indoor spaces and health. In 2003 he was designated a National Associate of the National Academies of Science. In 1998 he was appointed to the Advisory Committee on HIV and STD Prevention (ACHSP) at the Centers for Disease Control, and in July 2000, he became the committee chair. Finally, in 2004, he was appointed to the National Advisory Council for the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health [NIH].
Questions & Answers
12:00 -Lunch
8 Monday, June 17, 2013 - Afternoon Health Disparities And Ethics Moderator – Colin L. Soskolne, Ph.D
1:00 - Introductions Colin L. Soskolne, Ph.D. - Professor (Epidemiology), Department of Public Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada; Visiting Fellow, Faculty of Health, University of Canberra, Australia.
1:15 - Narrowing the Gap Through Attention to Values and Ethics in Public Health Risk Assessment Colin L. Soskolne, Ph.D., is Professor of Epidemiology in the School of Public Health, University of Alberta, Canada, where he has been based since 1985. He is currently Visiting Fellow at the University of Canberra, Australia. He will be retiring from his University of Alberta position as Professor Emeritus at the end of June 2013, to redirect his career. Dr. Soskolne obtained his BSc (1970) and BSc Honors (1971) degrees in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. His PhD in Epidemiology (1982) is from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. In his PhD thesis, he documented the discovery of long-term occupational exposure to high concentrations of sulfuric acid as being strongly associated with the development of laryngeal cancer. For this work, he was awarded the Society for Epidemiologic Research (SER) Student Prize in 1983.
2:30 - Dying While Black: Why Colorblind Policies Won’t Eliminate the Slave Health Deficit Vernellia R. Randall, J.D., a professor at the University of Dayton School of Law since 1990, Vernellia Randall writes extensively on and speaks internationally about race, women, and health care. She is the recipient of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health Chairman’s Award, and she was named one of the “Top 10 Most Influential African- Americans” on the 2001 Black Equal Opportunity Employment Journal list. Professor Randall holds both a B.S. degree and an M.S. degree in Nursing. She was involved in public health work for more than 15 years, focusing on eliminating disparities in health care for minorities and the poor. Professor Randall served as an administrator for a statewide health program in Alaska. Believing that a thorough knowledge of the law would help her become more effective in her mission, she enrolled in law school. After graduating in 1987 from Lewis and Clark Law School, she became an associate with a Portland, Oregon, law firm specializing in health care law and issues relating to health and disability insurance coverage. She also served as an adjunct faculty member at Lewis and Clark College.
3:30 - Human Needs, Human Rights, and Access to Healthcare for Everyone William J. Winslade, Ph.D., J.D., Ph.D. , is the James Wade Rockwell Professor of Philosophy in Medicine, Professor of Preventive Medicine and Community Health and Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, and is a member of the Institute for the Medical Humanities at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas, Austin. He is also Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law at the University of Houston Health Law and Policy Institute. His academic and professional background includes a Ph.D. in philosophy from Northwestern University, a J.D. from UCLA Law School, a Ph.D. in Psychoanalysis from the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute, and an Honorary D. H. L. from Monmouth College. He is a Fellow of the Hastings Center and was a ZIF Fellow (2009-2011).
4:30 - Panel Discussion/Questions and Answers
5:30 - Reception
9 Tuesday, June 18, 2013 – Morning Health Disparities Media and Roundtable Discussions Moderator – P. Mona Khanna, M.D., M.P.H., FACP, FACPM, FACOEM
7:30 a.m. - Registration & Breakfast
8:00 - Introductions P. Mona Khanna, M.D., M.P.H., FACP, FACPM, FACOEM – Medical Contributor, Fox Chicago News, Chicago, IL.
8:15 - Roundtable Discussions P. Mona Khanna, M.D., M.P.H., FACP, FACPM, FACOEM., is a triple residency-trained, triple board-certified practicing physician and Emmy award-winning medical journalist who serves as the Medical Contributor to Fox Chicago News, Visiting Clinical Associate Professor and Associate in the Center for Global Health at the University of Illinois, and Fellow of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago. She is the only medical doctor inducted into the Medill School of Journalism Hall of Achievement at Northwestern University, from which she holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism. Dr. Mona has been actively educating health professionals, journalists and the public about health inequities from both a reporting and medical practice perspective. She presided over the NIH/NIMHD Health Disparities Summit in Washington, D.C. in December of 2012, and presented on disparities at the National Association of Black Journalists 2010 Health Reporting Institute. She has given the annual Introduction to Health Disparities lecture to medical students at the University of North Texas since 2005, and served as the emcee for the 6th Annual Congressional Tri- Caucus Health Summit on Health Disparities and Minorities, where African-American, Hispanic and Asian members of Congress collaborated on methods of reducing health disparities in underserved populations.
Patricia Gras, is an ardent storyteller, whether it is using the medium of television or music. She has a background of life experiences as diverse as the city she covers. Patricia speaks five languages and holds three master’s degrees (an MBA from ESADE in Spain, a Masters in international management from Thunderbird (AZ) and a master’s in journalism from Columbia University in New York. She began her career in 1988 as a general assignment news reporter and the producer and host of her own award winning show, “Galveston la Isla Bonita.” She came to HoustonPBS (KUHT-TV) in 1990 to host the respected public affairs program “Almanac”. Today she hosts the award winning nationally syndicated series “Living Smart with Patricia Gras” to get the most out of life which airs in over 200 PBS channels and is on its eight season. In 2008 she also began co hosting and producing Latina Voices: Smart Talk until the end of 2011. Patricia Gras is the recipient of over 170 journalism awards including seven regional Emmy Awards 19 nominations and 17 national Telly’s. At present, Gras productions, her own production company is in postproduction for her Television series shot in Latin America.
Frank Michel, is Director of Public Affairs for the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital in Houston, Texas. From 2004 through 2009, he was Director of Communications for Houston’s then-Mayor Bill White. Prior to that, Michel was an award-winning journalist with the Houston Chronicle for 25 years, including 15 years as editorial page editor. He attended the University of Texas at Austin and holds a degree in journalism and history from the University of Houston. Michel is also a media fellow at the Hoover Institution on War Revolution and Peace at Stanford University. Michel, the son of Cuban and Mexican immigrants, is a Vietnam veteran of the U.S. Navy. He has served on numerous charitable boards, including the Rothko Chapel, the Houston Hispanic Forum, Holocaust Museum-Houston, Teach for America, Arte Publico Press at the University of Houston, and as chairman of the Houston World Affairs Council.
Melissa Wilson, is the Co-Anchor for FOX 26 Morning News weekdays from 7 to 10 a.m. Then, she loves to head out to the Texas Medical Center and throw on comfy scrubs and follow doctors and patients through procedures, as Medical Reporter for FOX 26. Melissa Co-Anchored the prime-time FOX 26 News at 9:00 p.m. for ten years, as part of the longest running anchor team at FOX 26. Melissa made the switch to mornings in 2010, when her son began school and she needed “mom friendly” working hours. It’s a great move career-wise, as she enjoys all of the live interviews and a more relaxed format that comes with a morning news program. A Texas native, Melissa received her Bachelor of Arts in Telecommunications from Baylor University. She began her career as the evening anchor at KAUZ-TV in Wichita Falls and then went on to anchor at Florida’s News Channel. Melissa has been an Honorary Co-Chair for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure since 2000. She also serves on their Advisory Board of Directors. She serves, or has served, on the following Boards of Directors: Children at Risk, Lazarus House, March of Dimes, United Way, Harris County Community College Nurse’s Association, “Gifts with Heart”, and Baylor Business Network. This year will be her 12th Annual “Melissa Wilson Golf Classic” for Children at Risk. 10 10:15 - Roundtable Discussions
11:15 - Questions and Answers
12:00 - Lunch Speaker – Becoming A Media Master P. Mona Khanna, M.D., M.P.H., FACP, FACPM, FACOEM, is a triple residency-trained, triple board-certified practicing physician and Emmy award-winning medical journalist who serves as the Medical Contributor to Fox Chicago News, Visiting Clinical Associate Professor and Associate in the Center for Global Health at the University of Illinois, and Fellow of the Institute of Medicine of Chicago.
Tuesday, June 18, 2013 - Afternoon Human Genomics And Disparities: Globally And Locally Moderator – Robin Fuchs-Young, Ph.D.
1:00 p.m. - Introductions Robin Fuchs-Young, Ph.D. – Professor, Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine and the Institute for Biosciences and Technology, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Houston, TX.
1:05 - Genetic and physiological determinants of breast cancer outcome disparities Robin Fuchs-Young, Ph.D., is a Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine and the Institute for Biosciences and Technology. She received her B.S. in Biology from Emory University at Atlanta in 1978 and her Ph.D. degree in Pathology from Vanderbilt University in 1988. She did her postdoctoral work at the Ben May Institute at the University of Chicago, with Dr. Geoffrey Greene. Following her postdoctoral training, Dr. Fuchs-Young spent four years at Eli Lily and Company, where she was part of the preclinical development team for Raloxifene (Evista). She then joined the Department of Carcinogenesis at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center as an Assistant Professor in 1996 rising to the rank of Professor. Dr. Fuchs-Young joined the faculty at Texas A&M University Health Science Center in early 2012.
2:05 - Genes, Ethnicity and Autoimmunity: A Historical Perspective John D. Reveille, M.D., is Professor & Director of the Division of Rheumatology & Clinical Immunogenetics at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston in Houston, TX. He completed his undergraduate degree at University of Florida and received his medical degree and fellowship training at Johns Hopkins University in the 1980’s. After fellowship, he was Assistant Professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) for 4 years before being recruited by Dr. Frank C. Arnett to join the faculty at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston Medical School in 1987. He was promoted to Associate Professor three years later and became Professor in 1997. Dr. Reveille was principal investigator at the UTHSC-Medical School site for the Lupus in Minorities - Nature vs. Nurture study (1993- 2003), and serves the same role for the COGNITION study in Lupus and for the UAB Program Project grant on the genetics of SLE. In 1997, he received the Alfred and Anna Brohn Memorial Award for Service to the Lupus Foundation of America. He was the Director of the North American Spondylitis Consortium (1999-2004) and since 2006, has served as the Principle Investigator of the Program Project on the Genetics of Spondyloarthritis funded by the National Institutes of Health.
3:05 - 15 minute break
3:15 - Population Substructure & Health Disparities: Insights from Biological Anthropology Fatimah L. C. Jackson, Ph.D. is a Professor at the University North Carolina - Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, NC and Professor Emerita, University of Maryland, College Park. Dr. Jackson received her PhD from Cornell. She is an expert on the biohistory of African peoples and their descendants in the diaspora. She is widely recognized for her stress on interdisciplinary and interactive approaches to scientificresearch. During the 1990s, she was coordinator for genetics research on the African Burial Ground Project in New York City. In 2002, she co-founded the first human DNA bank in Africa (based at the University of Yaounde I in Cameroon) with the aim of changing the way that anthropological genetic research is done on the African continent (moving away from the colonial approach), enhancing local infrastructure and expertise, and dramatically improving the potential for scientific understanding of the interactions of genotypes and environmental factors in producing specific phenotypes (by providing a local context for data analysis and interpretation). With the cooperation of local scientists, the project continue to amass a large and diverse database of African and non- African genotypes which is unique in its ethnographic detail. 11 4:15 - Ancestry, Health and Disease: Placing Genetic Susceptibility into Context Rick Kittles, Ph.D., is Associate Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL. He received a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences from George Washington University in 1998. His first faculty appointment was at Howard University where he helped establish the National Human Genome Center at Howard University. From 1997 to 2004, Dr. Kittles helped establish and coordinate a national cooperative network to study the genetics of hereditary prostate cancer in the African American community. This project, called the AAHPC study network, successfully recruited over 100 African American hereditary prostate cancer families and serves as a model for recruitment of African Americans in genetic studies of complex diseases. Dr. Kittles is well known for his research of prostate cancer and health disparities among African Americans. He has also been at the forefront of the development of ancestry-informative genetic markers, and how genetic ancestry can be used to map genes for common traits and disease. Kittles co-founded African Ancestry, Inc., a private company that provides DNA testing services for tracing African genetic lineages to genealogists and the general public around the world.
5:15 - Questions and Answers
6:00 - Adjourn
Wednesday, June 19, 2013 - Morning Human Genomics And Health Communication Moderator – Cathy Meade, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N.
7:30 a.m. - Registration
8:00 - Introductions Cathy D. Meade, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N.- Professor, Department of Interdisciplinary Oncology, Division of Cancer Control at the University of South Florida College of Medicine, and Director of the Education Program at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute dan has a joint appointment in the College of Nursing. 8:10 - Cultural Tailoring for African Americans: The Eat for Life Study Kenneth Resnicow, Ph.D. , is the Irwin Rosenstock Professor of Health Behavior and Health Education at University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI. His research interests include: the design and evaluation of health promotion programs for special populations, particularly chronic disease prevention for African Americans; tailored health communications; understanding the relationship between ethnicity and health behaviors; substance use prevention and harm reduction; training health professionals in motivational interviewing. Much of his work is informed by Chaos Theory, Complexity Science, and Self Determination Theory. Current studies include: An NIH- funded project to test the impact of ethnic and novel motivational tailoring of colorectal screening materials for African Americans; two Department of Transplantation studies to increase organ donation rates among African Americans working in Michigan “Greek” organizations, churches, and dialysis centers; a CDC-funded study to improve colorectal screening rates working in Black churches; and an NIH-funded study to reduce obesity using Motivational Interviewing working with the American Academy of Pediatrics PROS practices. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and has served on numerous advisory panels and review groups.
9:00 - The Roles of Men in Health Disparities Research: What Do We Look at and Does Anyone Notice? E. Lisako J. McKyer, Ph.D., M.P.H., is an Associate Professor and Director, in the Transdisciplinary Center for Health Equity Research (TCHER), Department of Health & Kinesiology, College of Education & Human Development at Texas A&M University and (joint appointment), Department of Health Promotion and Community Health Sciences, School of Rural Public Health (SRPH) at Texas A&M Health Science Center (TAMHSC). Her research interest include health education and health behavior research methods and data analytic methods, socio-ecological and psychological factors associated with child and adolescent health status & behaviors, and minority health issues & health disparities.
9:50 - 10 minute break
12 10:00 - The Role of Public Health in Achieving Health Equity Umair A. Shah, MD, M.P.H., was appointed in May 2013, as the Harris County Public Health & Environmental Services (HCPHES) Executive Director and the Local Health Authority for Harris County, Texas – the third most populous county in the United States. Prior to joining HCPHES, he was an emergency department physician at Houston’s Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Chief Medical Officer at the Galveston County Health District. He earned his B.A. (philosophy) from Vanderbilt University; M.D. from the University of Toledo Health Science Center; before completing Internal Medicine residency, a Primary Care/General Medicine fellowship, and his M.P.H. (management & policy sciences) at The University of Texas Health Science Center. His focus areas include population health, wellness and prevention; healthcare management; global/refugee health; health equity; and community engagement. He remains engaged in clinical patient care, academic teaching, and is actively involved in the local Harris County community.
10:50 - Health Literacy Meets Social Justice: Words Do Count Cathy D. Meade, Ph.D., R.N., F.A.A.N, is Professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Oncology, Division of Cancer Control at the University of South Florida College of Medicine, and Director of the Education Program at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute and has a joint appointment in the College of Nursing. She was one of first investigators to conduct studies in the area of patient understanding identifying the mismatch between patient’s reading levels and the reading level of health information. She has extensive experience in the development of culturally and literacy relevant cancer communications and has produced numerous printed and electronic materials and media for lay and professional audiences. Practical aspects of this work have been published widely to help health professionals develop easy-to-understand educational materials, media and interventions.
11:40 - Questions and Answers
12:15 p.m. - Lunch
Wednesday, June 19, 2013 - Afternoon Addressing Health Disparities & Clinical Trials Moderator – Selwyn M. Vickers, M.D.
1:15 p.m. - Introductions Selwyn M. Vickers, M.D. – Jay Phillips Professor and Chairman, The University of Minnesota Department of Surgery, Associate Director, Masonic Cancer Center, Minneapolis, MN.
1:20 - TBN Jean Ford, M.D., currently serves as Chair of the Department of Medicine at The Brooklyn Hospital Center, in Brooklyn, NY. Previously, he served as the founding Director of the Johns Hopkins Center to Reduce Cancer Disparities, and Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg of Public Health, with joint appointments in the departments of Medicine and Oncology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Prior to moving to Baltimore, Dr. Ford served as Chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Harlem Hospital in New York City, with academic appointments in the Department of Medicine and in the School of Public Health at Columbia University. While in Harlem, he developed innovative programs of asthma care, and he established programs of clinical and epidemiologic research on asthma. He also served as Principal Investigator for the New York Center of NHLBI’s Asthma Clinical Research Network. He has written extensively on determinants of health care disparities, especially those related to asthma, and cancer.
13 2:20 - Building Trust in the Era of Outcomes Based Health Care Thelma C. Hurd, M.D., FACS, a surgical oncologist, is Associate Professor of Surgery, Clinical Assistant Professor of Biostatistics and Epidemiology at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio in San Antonio, Texas and Adjunct Associate Professor at the UT School of Public Health Houston- San Antonio Extension. Dr. Hurd completed her General Surgery training at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and clinical and research oncology fellowships at the Ohio State University and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, respectively. Dr. Hurd’s research focuses on health disparities in underserved populations. She founded and serves as the Director of the South Texas Esperanza y Vida Program, a breast and cervical cancer education/screening program for Hispanic women and men in Texas-Mexico Border Region counties. From 2001-2005, she founded and served as the Executive Director of the Witness Project (community based breast and cervical cancer education program for African American women) in Buffalo and Niagara Falls NY and the Fruitbelt Community Witness Project (Buffalo NY) at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. This project continues to serve the Western New York community. Dr. Hurd is a member of the Enhancing Minority Participation in Clinical Trials (EMPaCT) Project team that is developing a national model to increase minority participation in clinical trials.
3:20 - 15 minute break
3:35 - TBN Ernest Hawk, M.D., M.P.H., serves as Vice President & Division Head in the Office of the Vice President, Division of Cancer Prevention & Population Sciences at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. Dr. Hawk is also Executive Director of the Duncan Family Institute for Cancer Prevention and Risk Assessment and a Boone Pickens Distinguished Chair for Early Prevention of Cancer. Dr. Hawk is the former director of the Office of Centers, Training and Resources at the NCI and prior to that was the Chief and Medical Officerof the GI and Other Cancers Research Group. His research interests are focused on preclinical and clinical chemoprevention and use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and COX-2 inhibitors as cancer prevention agents. He is the recipient of numerous awards including the prestigious NCI Research Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cancer Prevention.
4:35 - EMPaCT: A National Approach to Overcoming Minority Participation Barriers through Educational and Interventional Approaches Selwyn M. Vickers, M.D., is a nationally recognized leader in both academic surgery and pancreatic disease and a clinical scientist with more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and with NIH funding as PI of the original application (EMPaCT I !RC2MD004797-01) in the prior funding period. He is also PI of the U24 EMPaCT II Enhancing Minority Participation in Clinical Trials. He has had significant contributions in patient care and in laboratory investigation. After joining the UAB faculty from Johns Hopkins where he trained both as a hepatobiliary surgeon and surgical oncologist, he was an active leader in the cancer center and in the development of the UAB Pancreaticobiliary Center, now known as the UAB MDGI, where he served as founding Co-Director. He was also founding Principal Investigator of the NCMHD-funded EXPORT Program at UAB and co-founder of the UAB Minority Health and Research Center (MHRC). He currently serves as the Jay Phillips Professor and Chairman of the Department of Surgery at UMN. Dr. Vickers is the Associate Director of Translational Research for the Masonic Cancer Center. Dr. Vickers is Co-Principal Investigator of the UAB/UMN SPORE in Pancreatic Cancer.
5:35 - Questions and Answers
6:00 - Adjourn
14 Thursday, June 20, 2013 - Morning The Next Generation of Health Disparities Scholars Moderator - Armin Weinberg, Ph.D.
7:30 a.m. - Registration & Breakfast
8:00 - Introductions Armin D. Weinberg, Ph.D., is CEO of Life Beyond Cancer Foundation, Clinical Professor of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor at Rice University and was the co-founding Chair of the Intercultural Cancer Council. Dr. Weinberg began his career at Baylor in 1975 as Director of the Education Division of the DeBakey Heart Center. Recognizing that the community models he had developed could be applied to other chronic diseases, Dr. Weinberg established the Chronic Disease Research Center (CDRC) in 1987. By broadening his work to include other chronic diseases including cancer Dr. Weinberg’s efforts focused on translating our discovers in prevention, screening, and control activities to state and national initiatives. He was also a founding member of the International Consortium for Research on the Health Effects of Radiation, founded in response to the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Relatedly, Dr. Weinberg has spearheaded many international partnerships in the Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Russia, Columbia and Israel. He was the Principal Investigator of the Eliminating Disparities in Clinical Trials Project (EDICT), a research study designed to address the problems and find workable solutions to recruiting and retaining populations that are underrepresented in clinical trials such as low income, elderly, racial- ethnic minorities or those who live in rural areas.
8:15 - The Role of Citizenship on the Pathway to Preventing Disparities in Cancer Prevention Patricia Y. Miranda, Ph.D., M.P.H., is Assistant Professor of Health Policy & Administration and Demography in the College of Health and Human Development at The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, and Assistant Professor of Public Health Sciences in the College of Medicine at The Pennsylvania State University, Hershey, PA. Dr. Miranda received her Ph.D. and M.P.H. from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and was a Kellogg Health Scholar Postdoctoral Fellow at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Center for Research on Minority Health. Dr. Miranda’s research interests focus on cancer prevention among vulnerable populations, specifically disparities in cancerscreening affecting immigrant and Latino populations. Dr. Miranda’s research reflects the shifting demographics of the United States; examines how policies and screening guidelines may differentially impact vulnerable populations; explores the role of place (e.g. neighborhoods) in understanding access to health services; engages affected populations in a community-based participatory research approach to create recommendations for future interventions and policy efforts at local, regional and national levels, as well as methods of engaging policymakers as members of a community to create multilevel interventions for reducing health disparities. Most recently, Dr. Miranda and her colleagues further examined the underserved breast cancer prevention needs within Latino populations, specifically among the Mexican-origin population, describing how these women may disproportionately face higher rates of breast cancer mortality without further investigation of a higher risk of premenopausal breast cancer, or a focus on the social determinants of their low rates of screening. These findings have been accepted in the journals Cancer and Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, and resulted in an award as Outstanding New Community Public Health Professional, presented to Dr. Miranda by the Latino Caucus for Public Health at a dinner at the annual meetings of the American Public Health Association in Denver, CO in November 2010.
9:00 - How Experiencing Discrimination Adversely Impacts Health and Health Behaviors Lucinda Nevarez, Ph.D., LMSW, is currently a Visiting Research Professor in the Graduate College of Social Work at University of Houston. Dr. Nevarez completed her Ph.D. in social work at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work in the summer of 2010. Prior to receiving her Ph.D., Dr. Nevarez earned her Bachelors of Arts in Mexican American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, and her Masters of Social Work from the University of Houston. While working on her doctorate, Dr. Nevarez was a research assistant at Baylor College of Medicine where she conducted research and published two manuscripts on the risk behaviors of young fathers.
9:45 - 10 minute break
15 10:00 - Correlates of High Emergency Department Use Among Primarily Low Income, Uninsured and Medicaid Patients in Houston, TX Kimberly R. Enard, Ph.D., M.B.A., M.S.H.A., is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Cancer Education & Career Development Program at The University of Texas School of Public Health and Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow with The Dorothy I. Height Center for Health Equity & Evaluation Research, Department of Health Disparities Research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. Dr. Enard has nearly 10 years experience in healthcare management and several years of experience as a professional journalist.
10:45 - TBN Stacy M. Lloyd, Ph.D., M.P.H., is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Baylor College of Medicine and The Dorothy I. Height Center for Health Equity & Evaluation Research at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston Texas. She completed her PhD in Human Genetics and her MPH in Public Health Genetics from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health in May 2010 and December 2007, respectively. Dr. Lloyd’s primary focus is the development of a robust research program designed to elucidate the multi-factorial relationships between the biological, social, behavioral, and structural factors that contribute to the unequal burden of cancer morbidity and mortality experienced by minorities and the medically underserved in order to advance cancer prevention efforts. Dr. Lloyd has worked in the area of breast and lung cancer, and is currently working on new project investigating prostate cancer disparities from a metabolomics perspective.
11:30 - Panel Discussion
12:00 p.m. - Lunch
Thursday, June 20, 2013 - Afternoon Training The Next Generation of Health Disparities & Kellogg Scholars Moderator – Richard Kreider, Ph.D.
1:00 p.m. - Introductions Richard Kreider, Ph.D., serves as Professor, Department Head, and Thomas A. and Joan Read Endowed Chair for Disadvantaged Youth in the Department of Health & Kinesiology at Texas A&M University. Dr. Kreider also directs the Exercise & Sport Nutrition Lab. Prior to coming to Texas A&M, Dr. Kreider served as Chair of the Department of Health, Human Performance & Recreation at Baylor University and Director of the Exercise & Sport Nutrition Lab and Center for Exercise, Nutrition and Preventive Health.
1:15 - 396 Narratives of Workplace Injuries: How to Prevent Them and Opportunities for Intervention Shedra Amy Snipes, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Biobehavioral Health at Pennsylvania State University, is a Bio-Cultural Anthropologist whose research lies at the intersection of biology, culture and environmental health disparities. She uses an innovative mixed-methods approach that expertly blends ethnography, biomarkers, and community-based research to explore immigrant health outcomes associated with exposure to pesticides. Specifically, Dr. Snipes travels and lives with Mexican immigrant farmworkers, sharing and documenting the dangers associated with exposure to agricultural chemicals, occupational injuries, and related health experiences. Dr. Snipes’ ultimate goal is to provide new, useful data on how culture can be used to better engage healthy behaviors for farmworkers, including pesticide exposure safety, reduced occupational injury, and better healthcare access. Currently, Dr. Snipes’ research program entails 1) ethnographic experiments, 2) tests of feasibility to collect longitudinal bio-specimens (saliva) among migrating groups of Mexican farmworkers, and 3) piloting innovations in heat-sensitive clothing to reduce pesticide exposure among farmworkers. Dr. Snipes earned her Ph.D. in Bio-Cultural Anthropology from the University of Washington in 2006. She is a former fellow of the prestigious Kellogg Health Scholars Program at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. She is also alumni of the National Cancer Institute Education and Career Development Program at the University of Texas School of Public Health.
16 2:15 - What do we really know about the lifestyle habits of African American breast cancer survivor? Raheem J. Paxton, Ph.D., M.S., is currently an Assistant Professor at the Center for Health Equity and Evaluation Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Paxton has extensive experience in the development of theory based physical activity and dietary intervention in various populations including children, older adults, and cancer survivors. He was recently awarded an NCI Mentored Career Development Award to design a physical activity intervention for minority cancer survivors. Work with this population has led to the development a web-based curriculum and self-monitoring tools that promotion physical activity, reductions in time spent sitting, and the incorporation of standing breaks. Future interest include the development of holistic web-based cancer care programs tailored to the unique attributes and personal preferences of the cancer survivor.
3:15 - 10 minute break
3:30 - Neighborhood Matters: How Characteristics of the Residential Environment Relate to Physical Activity, Sedentary Behavior, and Body Mass Index among African American Adults Lorraine R. Reitzel, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Disparities Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Florida State University and completed her internship at the Federal Medical Center in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2005. Dr. Reitzel was previously licensed as a Psychological Associate in North Carolina, and is currently licensed as a Psychologist in Texas. Prior to her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Reitzel conducted research and treated patients in a variety of correctional settings, including juvenile detention centers, state prisons, and federal prisons for male and female offenders. In addition, she served as president of the International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology in 2007. Dr. Reitzel’s interest in addictions and underserved populations contributed to her move to the Department of Health Disparities Research following the receipt of her doctoral degree, as well as her tenure there as an Assistant Professor. Dr. Reitzel’s current research program focuses on increasing understanding of the influence of neighborhood context, socioeconomic status, and social status on cancer-related risk behaviors. Dr. Reitzel has over 50 empirical peer-reviewed publications in journals including the American Journal of Public Health, Addiction, Social Science & Medicine, and Health & Place. Her recent work includes investigating the associations of fast food restaurant locations and body mass index among African Americans, and the effects of neighborhood deprivation on survival and other clinical outcomes of interest among head and neck cancer patients.
Larkin L. Strong, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Disparities Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. A theme throughout her work is the recognition that health and health behaviors are embedded within social, physical, economic, and cultural contexts. Dr. Strong received her Ph.D. in Health Services at the University of Washington School of Public Health in 2006, where her research focused on understanding and reducing occupational and take-home exposures of pesticides in farmworkers and their families. She then completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan with the Kellogg Health Scholars program, a national postdoctoral program that emphasized skills in community-academic partnering as a meaningful approach for reducing racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities in health. During this time, Dr. Strong worked in collaboration with community and academic partners in Detroit to develop, implement, and evaluate a neighborhood-based walking and social support program to promote healthy lifestyles among low- income residents. Dr. Strong’s current research aims to understand how social, cultural, and environmental influences help to shape patterns of cancer preventive behaviors in minority and underserved populations, with the ultimate objective of translating research findings into health promotion efforts that stimulate meaningful change in opportunities for and adoption of healthy lifestyles.
4:30 - What Affects My Health? A Community-Driven Investigation of Neighborhood Determinants Denae King, Ph.D., is currently a research associate professor at Texas Southern University in the Mickey Leland Center for Environment, Justice, and Sustainability and an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Health Disparities Research. She holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Texas Southern University and obtained a master’s and doctoral degree in environmental science with a concentration in toxicology from The University of Texas, Houston Health Science Center, School of Public Health. Although formally trained as a bench scientist, Dr. King developed an interest in community-based participatory research (CBPR) as it relates to environmental health and cancer while completing a Kellogg Scholars in Health Disparities postdoctoral fellowship at MD Anderson Cancer Center in the Center for Research on Minority Health, now known as the Dorothy
17 I. Height Center for Health Equity and Evaluation Research. She has continued to work on environmental health assessment projects designed to address community-identified environmental health concerns in Houston’s underserved communities. Dr. Kin g’s new found interests also include the role of neighborhood effects in the onset of cancer in underserved populations. She has presented her research at national conferences such as the American Public Health Association (2012), and published her findings in various journals, including, the American Journal of Public Health, Cancer, Health and Place, and the Journal of Cancer Education.
5:30 - Questions and Answers
6:00 - Adjourn
Friday, June 21, 2013 - Morning Tobacco-Use: Creating and Resolving the Problems of Disparities Moderator: Robert G. Robinson, M.S.W., Dr.P.H.
7:30 a.m. - Registration & Breakfast
8:00 - Introductions Robert G. Robinson, M.S.W., Dr.P.H. – Associate Director Emeritus, Public Health Consultant, Atlanta, GA.
8:05 - Community Model for Eliminating Disparities: Triangulation of Theory, Data, and Practice Robert G. Robinson, M.S.W., Dr.P.H., Associate Director Emeritus and a Public Health Consultant. Dr. Robinson previously served as an Associate Director for Health Equity of the Office on Smoking and Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 1993 to 2006. Dr. Robinson has served on editorial boards and in volunteer capacities for the American Cancer Society. In his capacity at CDC Dr. Robinson has developed national programs that in particular target the needs of Communities of Color, women, blue collar and agricultural workers, gays and lesbians, low income and youth. He has developed policy and program initiatives for South America and Sub-Sahara Africa. In addition he assists in policy and program applications related to National Organizations and Health Department efforts funded by CDC, including research efforts with the nation’s Prevention Centers. He has distinguished himself as a leader both nationally and internationally. Prior to his association with CDC in 1993, Dr. Robinson was a researcher with the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. His major accomplishments during this period was development of the Pathways to Freedom (PTF) program which remains the state-of-art tobacco control program for the African American community.
8:55 - Ask Advice Connect Approach to Linking low SES and Racial/Ethnic Minority Smokers in Safety Net Healthcare Systems with Smoking Cessation Treatment Jennifer Irvin Vidrine, Ph.D, is an Associate Professor with tenure in the Department of Health Disparities Research at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. She holds a joint appointment in the Department of Behavioral Science at MD Anderson.Her research focuses on eliminating health disparities through developing and evaluating the impact of tailored health risk communications, evaluating potential mechanisms underlying changes in risk perceptions over time in the natural environment, disseminating evidence-based tobacco cessation interventions to underserved populations, and implementing and evaluating healthcare systems-level interventions for tobacco cessation. Dr. Vidrine completed her doctoral degree in clinical psychology at the University of South Florida and her clinical internship at the Brown University Clinical Psychology Training Consortium (Behavioral Medicine Track) at Brown Medical School.
9:55 - 10 minute break
18 10:05 - Menthol, FDA, and the Need for a Comprehensive Approach to Cessation William S. Robinson, M.A., is the Former Executive Director of the National African American Tobacco Prevention Network (NAATPN) and Founder/Director of the Black Men’s Health Initiative, Durham, NC. Mr. Robinson is a native of Manhasset, New York. He relocated to South Carolina in July 1988, and has lived in Columbia, Camden and Ladson. He returned to Columbia in June 2005. Mr. Robinson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with a concentration in International Relations from the State University of New York (SUNY) at New Paltz. He earned a Master of Arts degree in African Studies with a minor in Political Science from SUNY at Albany, where he graduated magna cum laude. In 1984, Mr. Robinson was inducted into Pi Sigma Alpha, the Political Science National Honor Society.
10:55 - How to Market the Most Dangerous Consumer Product in the World to Minorities Joel Dunnington, M.D., Professor of Radiology, Director, GI Radiology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX. Dr. Dunnington has served on the faculty at MD Anderson for 24 years. He spent thirteen years on the Texas Medical Association’s Council on Public Health and 6 years on the Cancer Committee (Chair) where his principal focus was on tobacco control. He chaired the TMA Task Force on Tobacco for 5 years, represented the TMA at the Texas Interagency Council on Smoking or Health from 1991-1995 and was the Vice Chairman from 1991 to 1992 and Chairman in 1995. Dr. Dunnington received a Health Leader in Medicine award from the Texas Medical Association Foundation for his Public Health activities, especially in tobacco control. He collaborates with the Cancer Prevention researchers at MD Anderson on a number of projects concerning tobacco control and to a lesser extent on tobacco cessation.
11:45 - Questions & Answers
12:15 p.m. - Lunch
Friday, June 21, 2013 - Afternoon Human Disparities & Model Minorities Moderator –Beverly J. Quan Gor, Ed.D., R.D., L.D.
1:00 - Introduction Beverly J. Quan Gor, Ed.D., R.D., L.D
1:15 - Health Needs of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans: Stories from the Model Minority Beverly J. Quan Gor, Ed.D., R.D., L.D. , is an Instructor in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX. She is also a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator. She and her colleagues have conducted research studies on nutrition and minority populations to try to understand how to reduce cancer risk for all Americans. She is a cofounder of the Asian American Health Coalition of Greater Houston, Inc. and helped to establish the HOPE Clinic, a community health center providing primary health care to Asians and other residents of Southwest Houston. Before coming to MD Anderson, Beverly operated her own nutrition consulting business specializing in pediatric nutrition, especially childhood obesity and developmental disorders, and taught at the University of Houston and Texas Woman’s University. Selina Ahmed, Ph.D., M.Sc., B.Sc. -Associate Professor, College of Liberal Arts & Behavioral Sciences, Department of Human Services & Consumer Sciences, Texas Southern University, Houston, TX.
Luceli C. Cuasay, M.P.H., Dr.P.H., is an epidemiologist and biostatistician with many years of research experience in the fields of oncology, cardiovascular medicine, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and health disparities. Dr. Cuasay is the sole proprietor of Research For Health and independent consultant for clinical trial and epidemiologic research. She has the knowledge and skills in project management; research proposal and protocol development; statistical analysis; data management; and medical writing. She has authored or co-authored numerous publications and presentations. She is a member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and American Public Health Association and the current scientific program chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Caucus for Public Health.
2:45 - Panel Discussion 3:00 - 15 minute break 19 Health Disparities, Dorothy I. Height & Social Determinants in the 21st Century Moderator – William (Bill) C. Jenkins, M.P.H., Ph.D.
3:15 - Introduction William (Bill) C. Jenkins, M.P.H., Ph.D. – Professor, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
3:30 - Roundtable Discussions Sandra Crouse Quinn, Ph.D., is currently Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Senior Associate Director, Maryland Center for Health Equity. She is also Professor in the Department of Family Science at the University of Maryland School of Public Health. Dr. Quinn graduated from University of Maryland College Park with a Ph.D. in Health Education. Her research focus is in community engagement, minority participation in research, and health and risk communication, particularly with regard to vaccines and disasters, natural and manmade. She is the first author of “The National Negro Health Week, 1915 to 1951: A Descriptive Account” detailing the origins of National Negro Health Week.
Debbie Chatman Bryant, D.N.P., R.N., is Assistant Director of Cancer Prevention, Control, and Outreach at Hollings Cancer Center, Medical University of South Carolina. Bryant works to improve healthy behaviors and to lower cancer risk among racially and ethnically diverse and medically underserved populations in South Carolina’s low-country. She organizes and trains lay patient navigators to help with diagnostic follow-up and treatment appointments. She developed a voucher system to cover the cost of co-payments and eliminate financial barriers. She utilizes mobile screening vans to provide care in non-traditional sites and help address patients’ fears of costs and distrust of the existing systems. The number of mobile unit screenings increased from 1,300 in 2006 to over 2,000 in both 2010 and 2011. More than half of the patients screened were uninsured or underinsured, and nearly two-thirds of those served say they would not have been screened if not for the mobile van. The program decreased the number of patients lost to follow-up from 11 percent in 2009 to less than 5 percent in 2010.
William (Bill) C. Jenkins, M.P.H., Ph.D., Professor, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC) is a fellow of the American College of Epidemiology (ACE), a member of the American Statistical Association (ASA), and a member of the American Public Health Association (APHA), where he also served on the Governing Council and Executive Board. He was the founding chair of the Epidemiology Section of ASA, a member of the Board of Directors of ACE, and a past chair of its Minority Affairs Committee. Dr. Jenkins received the Abraham Lilienfeld Award from the APHA Epidemiology Section in November 2009. Prior to joining the UNC Institute of African American Research, Dr. Bill Jenkins served for two decades as Supervisory Epidemiologist in the National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention (NCHSTP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and managed its Minority Health Activities Program. Dr. Jenkins obtained his Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Morehouse College. He holds a Master’s degree in Biostatistics from Georgetown University, and both a Master in Public Health degree and a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Epidemiology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He has also completed post-doctoral work in Biostatistics at Harvard University School of Public Health.
Pamela Jackson, M.S., is the Interim Executive Director of the Intercultural Cancer Council (ICC), and faculty member and instructor in the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. As part of the planning committee for the Biennial Symposium Series that started in 1987, Ms. Jackson developed the Cancer Education Resources Program and the Student Mentoring Program. During the past 25 years as a health professional, Ms. Jackson has served as the SW Regional Director of the National Black Leadership Initiative on Cancer, a National Cancer Institute, Special Population Project at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center from 1989-1995 prior to accepting the Baylor appointment. Ms. Jackson has been appointed to numerous national and state committees such as the Centers for Disease Control National Planning Committee for the Divisions of Chronic Disease Prevention and Control and Cancer Prevention and Control and the Texas Department of State Health Services Local Authority Network Advisory Committee on Mental Health. She received her undergraduate degree from Central State University, Wilberforce, Ohio and her graduate degree from Long Island University, Zekendoff Campus, Brooklyn, New York.
20 Stephen L. Klineberg, Ph.D. M.A., is a graduate of Haverford College, with an M.A. from the University of Paris and a Ph.D. from Harvard, Stephen Klineberg is a Professor of Sociology at Rice University. In 1982, he and his students initiated the annual “Kinder Houston Area Survey,” now beginning its fourth decade of tracking the remarkable changes in the demographic patterns, economic outlooks, experiences, and beliefs of Harris County residents. The recipient of twelve major teaching awards, including the Lifetime Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Piper Professor Award, Klineberg is featured in a new film on the first 30 years of the Houston surveys and is completing a series of reports on this research while also serving as Co-director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University.
Josephine Mercado, J.D., retired from her career as a lawyer in New York and moved to Florida, where she discovered there was little or no statistical data on the delivery of basic health care services to Hispanic or Black populations. Using her legal background, Mercado founded Hispanic Health Initiatives (HHI). .Josephine Mercado is Founder and Executive Director of HHI, a 501(c)3, non-profit, volunteer driven, community based organization addressing the health needs of the medically under-served populations of Central Florida. HHI is the only Hispanic health agency in Central Florida specifically targeting the Hispanic community.
Debra J. Pérez, Ph.D., M.A., M.P.A., is assistant vice president for Research and Evaluation, collaborates with the vice president on the strategic and tactical decisions of the unit as well as ensuring its effective and efficient management. Among other priorities, Pérez is responsible for supporting advancing the unit’s goals of learning and spreading the Foundation’s lessons from our past and current investments. Pérez completed her interfaculty doctoral program at Harvard University, receiving a PhD in health policy. While at Harvard, Pérez chaired the first and second university-wide symposium on racial and ethnic disparities in health/health care. She was awarded a five-year fellowship in health policy and research from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Pérez graduated from Douglass College with a BA in communication. She received an MA in social science and women’s studies from the University of Kent in Canterbury, England.
5:30 - Questions and Answers
6:00 - Adjourn
Saturday, June 22, 2013 - Morning Health Disparities and Health Policy Moderator – Leonard Zwelling, M.D.
7:30 a.m. - Registration & Breakfast
8:00 - Introductions Leonard A. Zwelling, M.D., Ph.D. –Professor of Medicine & Pharmacology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX.
8:15 - Achieving Health Equity in American Indians Margaret P. Moss, Ph.D., J.D., R.N., F.A.A.N. – Associate Professor, Director – Doctor of Nursing Practice Program, Director - Nursing Management, Policy & Leadership Specialty, Yale School of Nursing, New Haven, CT. Dr. Moss is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes of North Dakota- the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation. She is an Associate Professor at the Yale School of Nursing and Directs 2 programs including the DNP. Dr. Moss received her PhD in Nursing from the University of Texas -Houston, Health Sciences Center in 2000- her dissertation was an ethnography on aging in the Zuni tribe of New Mexico. She subsequently received a distinguished alumni award. Dr. Moss then entered and completed Law School focusing on Federal Indian law, elder law and health law. She is the first and only American Indian to hold both Nursing and Juris Doctorates. Dr. Moss was a 2008-2009 Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow, and staffed the Senate Special Committee on Aging under Senators Martinez and Corker. She has a focus in American Indian Aging specifically and completed a 2-year Postdoctorate Fellowship at the Native Elder Research Center, an NIH funded Resource Center for Minority Aging Research based at the University of Colorado. Dr. Moss researches, presents and writes on American Indians, aging, law and policy.
21 9:00 - Caring for the Underserved Disproportionate Share Providers & Institutions Janet Phoenix, M.D., M.P.H., is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Health Policy in the School of Public Health and Health Services at George Washington University. Her current research activities include CHAMPS an implementation study of asthma home interventions in community health centers and a health impact analysis of a former coal fired power plant. Dr. Phoenix was the recipient of a 2008 Health Policy Fellowship from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. She spent her fellowship year working on health care reform efforts in the US Senate. Dr Phoenix served on two federal advisory committees, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Lead Poisoning Advisory Committee and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee. She is an established media spokesperson with interviews on Good Morning America, CNBC and Voice of America and numerous print outlets. She has written curriculums on environmental lead poisoning, environmental triggers of asthma, breast cancer and AIDS.
9:45 - Social or Political Determinants: What is it About Americans? John Lunstroth, L.L.M., M.P.H., Research Professor, Health Law & Policy Institute, University of Houston Law Center, Houston, TX. Professor Lunstroth serves as a Member of the Board of Directors with the International Intelligence Ethics Association and on the International Advisory Board, Research Institute for European and American Studies. Professor Lunstroth’s scholarly interests are linked by the idea of Right. More abstractly he is interested in the relationship between history and law; between positivist science and law; and in sources of law. In the health sector besides being interested in the regulation of human experimentation, he is interested in how the various “ethics” (medical, neuroscientific, research, public health, genetic, etc.) comeinto existence, how they are maintained, and how they are linked; especially, how are they influenced or structured by scientism. His primary tools for critique are Aristotelianism and history. He integrates human rights into all his work, and is concerned to give his students tools for understanding one of the most profound political problems facing the global community.
10:30 - Tools for Sex- and Gender-Specific Policy, Programs, and Research Justina A. Trott, M.D., F.A.C.P., is a senior fellow and Co-Director of the Women’s Health Policy at the RWJF Center for Health Policy at the University of New Mexico, Senior Fellow NM Center for the Advancement of Research, Engagement, & Science on Health Disparities, Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, core faculty Northern New Mexico Family Practice Residency Program, a fellow of the American College of Physicians and president of the New Mexico Chapter American College of Physicians (2011-2012). She was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Congressional Fellow 2008-9 in the office of Senator Jeff Bingaman. Prior to her fellowship she was medical and executive director at Women’s Health Services, a nonprofit organization designated as a National Community Center of Excellence in Women’s Health in 2001 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is a member of the Sex and Gender Women’s Health Collaborative, a joint project of the American College of Women’s Health Physicians and academic and professional organization collaborators. In 2006 she was appointed chair of the New Mexico Governor’s Women’s Health Advisory Council.
11:15 - Hispanic Paradox in Mortality, Aging and Health Kyriakos S. Markides, Ph.D., is currently the Annie and John Gnitzinger Distinguished Professor of Aging and Director of the Division of Sociomedical Sciences, Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston. Dr. Markides received his Ph.D. in Sociology in 1976 from Louisiana State University. He is the Editor of the Journal of Aging and Health which he founded in 1989. He is the author or co-author of over 325 publications most of which are on aging and health issues in the Mexican American population as well as minority aging issues in general. He is currently Principal Investigator of the Hispanic EPESE (Established Population for the Epidemiological Study of the Elderly). Dr. Markides is credited with coining the term ‘Hispanic Epidemiological Paradox’ (with J. Coreil) which is currently the leading theme in Hispanic health. He is also the editor of the Encyclopedia of Health and Aging published by SAGE Publications in 2007. The Institute for Scientific Information (ISA) has listed Dr. Markides among the most highly cited social scientists in the world.
12:00 pm - Panel Discussion
12:30 - Lunch Speaker – Health Reform 101 Leonard A. Zwelling, M.D., Ph.D., is a medical oncologist and professor of medicine and pharmacology at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas. He served on the staff of the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in 2009 during a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy fellowship. He currently does health services research and writes extensively on health care reform and other medical issues having to do with the changes taking place in academic medicine. He has an undergraduate, medical and house staff degrees from Duke, fellowship at the National Cancer Institute and an MBA from the University of Houston.
1:30 - Closing Remarks 22 22