Invited Experts

Dr. Ford is trained in internal medicine and pulmonary medicine, and he currently serves as the Paul J. Johnson Chair of Medicine at the Einstein Healthcare Network, in Philadelphia, PA. He was the founding Director of the Johns Hopkins Center to Reduce Cancer Disparities. He is interested in the design and evaluation of interventions to improve access and quality of care services. He has led numerous clinical and epidemiologic studies, including a systematic review on barriers and facilitators of participation of underrepresented population in cancer clinical trials. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and received multiple major grant awards from philanthropic foundations, the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies.

Shannon Christy, PhD, is an Assistant Member in the Department of Health Outcomes and Behavior at Moffitt Cancer Center. With an overarching aim of reducing cancer disparities, Dr. Christy’s interdisciplinary program of research has focused on cancer preventive and early detection behaviors including colorectal cancer screening. Themes of her research include community-based participatory approaches; health literacy; understanding the role of affect, cognitions, and social determinants of health in engagement in cancer preventive and early detection behaviors; and evaluating the efficacy of tailored and/or targeted behavioral interventions.

 

No information available at this time. 

The significance of Dr. Wenzel’s scholarship has been recognized through prestigious early career faculty awards from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the American Cancer Society. Working with interdisciplinary teams from the JHU Schools of Medicine and Public Health, she leads multi-institutional interventions to improve collaborative cancer decision-making and treatment support for patients and care partners through innovative and supportive navigation interventions.

Dr. Wenzel’s interventions are designed to improve cancer experiences for patients and care partners and to address existing disparities in cancer outcomes across the continuum. Her contributions, including the innovative extension of nurse-community health worker navigation interventions to include family or other patient-designated care partners are recognized by the American Academy of Nursing. Dr. Wenzel’s theoretical and empirical work contributes to the state-of-the-science on cancer navigation support for patients, families, and communities and are currently reflected in her leadership as Evaluation/Dissemination Core Director for the Johns Hopkins Merck Cancer Alliance. These efforts include cancer screening and treatment, practice and policy, and development of a model of clinical trial decision-making which has been presented to the FDA and is currently undergoing testing. Dr. Wenzel has been funded by the NCI and the NINR to test navigation support for decision-making related to clinical trials and palliative prostate cancer decision-making for patients and care partners affected by cancer.

Randy A. Jones, PhD, RN, FAAN is a tenured Professor at the University of Virginia School of Nursing. Dr. Jones’ research and publications focus on health disparities, prostate cancer, chronic illness, and decision-making. He has conducted mixed method design studies on screening and treatment decision making as it relates to cancer, with an emphasis among African Americans. His program of research has expanded to include palliative care and caregivers’ interactions with patients. He has received funded research grants from organizations such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, American Cancer Society, and the American Nurses Foundation. He is currently PI on a NIH/NINR funded R01 testing an interactive decision aid for patients with advanced prostate cancer.

No information available at this time. 

Dr. Whitt-Glover is currently involved in research studies designed to identify effective strategies to increase weight loss and weight gain prevention among underserved communities, and to promote adherence to national recommendations for diet and physical activity. Dr. Whitt-Glover received her BA (Exercise Physiology, 1993) and MA (Exercise Physiology, 1996) from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her PhD (Epidemiology, 1999) from the University of South Carolina, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (2000–2002). She served on the faculty at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine (2002–2003) and Wake Forest University School of Medicine (2003–2009) before starting Gramercy Research Group in 2009.

 

No information available at this time.