Celebrating Black History Month

CELEBRATING

BLACK MONTH

PUBLIC HEALTH HEROES In honor of Black History Month and inspired by public health leaders, we are highlighting people dedicating their talents to shaping a better tomorrow in Flint and beyond.

To be included in this collection, we invite community partners, faculty, staff, and alumni to submit their bio and headshot.

Send an email to Jill Vondrasek at vondras4@msu.edu with the following information: • Name, degrees/credentials, and job title • 100-130 word bio • Headshot

FIGHTING HEALTH DISPARITIES Spartans in Public Health are at the forefront of the health equity revolution.

Addressing the social determinants of health alongside the Flint community and beyond, at Michigan State Public Health we work in the areas of: • • • • • • • • • •

Improving the health of Black men and women Drug and alcohol dependence Depression and suicide risk reduction Racial disparities in mental health Colorectal cancer awareness Protecting the health of Flint children exposed to lead Building strong communities through resilience Nutrition and healthy eating behaviors Healthy aging And more

TOGETHER, WE STAND FOR HEALTH JUSTICE.

RENEE BRANCH CANADY, PhD, MPA

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, MSU MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM AND CEO FOR THE MICHIGAN PUBLIC HEALTH INSTITUTE Dr. Canady is highly influential in broadening the discussion of health equity and social justice while serving on numerous national boards, review panels, and advisory groups. She serves on the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation County Health Rankings Scientific Advisory Group and is president of the Boards of the National Network of Public Health Institutes and the Council for Black Health. She was appointed

by Gov. Whitmer to the Michigan Coronavirus Task Force for Racial Disparities and is a co-lead for their Centering Equity Work-group. Canady developed a research trajectory in health disparities and health inequities, emphasizing the social context of pregnancy experiences and outcomes in African American women. She applies this expertise in projects such as Advancing Birth Equity through Systems Change and as a member of the Advisory Board of Birth Detroit, a birth center led by Black women.

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LEADING COVID-19 RESPONSE IN MICHIGAN

CLEOTHIA FRAZIER, PhD, MPH, MA INSTRUCTOR, MSU MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM

Dr. Frazier is an interdisciplinary health scholar whose research interests include aging and the life course, medical sociology, mental health, and the social determinants of health. Her research aims to examine how racialized and gender systems of inequality give rise to disparities in mental and physical health among older populations. Her work has appeared in the American Journal of Epidemiology, Journal of National Medical Association, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, and Journal of Historical Sociology.

Frazier helps students develop self-awareness and skills that will serve them throughout their lives and careers. She has taught courses in the MPH program, including Introduction to Public Health, Social and Behavioral Aspects of Public Health, the Integrated Learning Experience (ILE), and more. She hopes her teaching will encourage the future generation of health professionals to think critically about the various factors that shape health and well-being.

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DEVELOPING CULTURALLY APPROPRIATE HEALTH EDUCATION

DEBRA FURR-HOLDEN, PhD C.S. MOTT ENDOWED PROFESSOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH​

Dr. Furr-Holden is an epidemiologist with expertise in drug and alcohol dependence, psychiatric epidemiology, and prevention science. Her work in Flint focuses on behavioral health equity and policy-level interventions to promote health equity with action-oriented research that embodies the principles and practices of Community-Based Participatory Research. She is the Associate Dean for Public Health Integration at Michigan State, Director of the Flint Center for Health Equity Solutions, and the co-Director of the Healthy Flint Research Coordinating Center.​ With the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Furr-Holden’s expertise led to government task force appointments on the Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities, the Greater Flint Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Inequity, and the New York City African American COVID-19 Task Force. In Michigan and Flint, the racial disparity in COVID-19 cases and deaths among the African American population was eliminated.

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ELIMINATING COVID-19 HEALTH DISPARITIES

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KENT KEY, PhD, MPH

HEALTH DISPARITIES RESEARCHER Dr. Key is a community-engaged researcher focusing on racial and ethnic health disparities.

He builds equitable relationships between the community and academic partners for health research and elevates community-identified health priorities to the research enterprise.

He is the Founder of the Community Ethics Review Board, a Community Organization Partners component. Community members conduct ethical reviews of proposed research projects to ensure no harm is done on a community level and assess mutual benefit.

In 2020, he authored a resolution Declaring Racism as a Public Health Crisis and spearheaded initiatives locally, regionally, and nationally. Key is co-developing culturally appropriate family health history tools with African American community members thanks to a grant from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. He also directs a youth program to introduce underrepresented minorities into careers in public health.

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DECLARING RACISM A PUBLIC HEALTH CRISIS IN FLINT

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LEADING THE MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH ACCREDITATION PROCESS

WAYNE McCULLOUGH, PhD

INTERIM DIRECTOR OF THE DIVISION OF PUBLIC HEALTH DIRECTOR OF MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM As interim director of the Division of Public Health, Dr. McCullough’s personal mission is to address the social determinants of health and improve health outcomes of residents in Flint, MI, and beyond.

As director of the Master of Public Health Program, he increases the acumen of all students as expert users of public health information to improve health as future Spartans in Public Health.

To reduce the barrier to graduate education, he created the first full-tuition MSU Master of Public Health Flint Scholarship and is working to provide more scholarship opportunities. With an alumni base of nearly 700, he has successfully led the Council on Education for Public Health’s accreditation process. Having met all 35 criteria, he expects a favorable accreditation decision by mid-2022.

McCullough’s research interests include how communications can help advance under-served communities.

• On the Man Up Man Down project, he worked to increase the life expectancy of Black men with a diabetes self-care and social support intervention.

• He directed three annual dental health screening events for Flint in collaboration with community partners.

• As a Co-PI, he is a mentor in the federally funded Research to Reduce Disparities Program to create a trans-disciplinary bridge between medicine and public health. The program is intended to create physician/ research scientists to address the role of race, ethnicity, gender, and implicit/ explicit bias in medicine.

MIEKA SMART, DrPH

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, MSU MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM AND DIRECTOR, LEADERSHIP IN MEDICINE FOR THE UNDER-SERVED CERTIFICATE PROGRAM Dr. Smart is a global educator and epidemiologist. She uses film, media and experiential methods to teach public health topics. She promotes cross-cultural student and professional development via peer-to-peer experiential learning. Hundreds of students have taken her experiential courses in Uganda, South Africa, and the Americas.

She directs two programs for MSU College of Human Medicine (CHM) students: • Research to Reduce Disparities in Disease, a NIH research training program • Leadership in Medicine for the Under-served certificate program.

Her research largely focuses on policy evaluation, domestically and internationally. She also supervises education abroad and service learning experiences for CHM students.

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GUIDING SERVICE LEARNING AND EDUCATION ABROAD

RODLESCIA SNEED, PhD, MPH ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, MSU MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAM AND RESEARCHER Dr. Sneed is a public health researcher interested in evaluating and improving how older adults age successfully in urban communities. She uses a multilevel approach to examine the role of the social environment in health-related outcomes for diverse populations of older adults. Further, she seeks to improve outcomes for older adults through the development and implementation of innovative, evidence-based, behavioral health interventions.

Sneed’s recent work includes evaluating the potential impact of health policy changes on access to care for older adults. She has also partnered with the MADE Institute, a community-based reentry program based in Flint, MI, to test a physical health intervention among formerly incarcerated mid and late-life adults.

She serves as co-chair for the Master of Public Health Workforce Development Committee, which provides free professional development opportunities for public health professionals in the Flint community.

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IMPROVING HEALTH FOR THE FORMERLY INCARCERATED

Division of Public Health College of Human Medicine

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