Organizers and Committee

Dr. Martin is a Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the UTHSC College of Medicine, Founding Director of the Center for Innovation in Health Equity Research (CIHER) – A Community Cancer Alliance for Transformative Change, and Co-Director of the Tennessee Clinical and Translational Science Institute (TN-CTSI). CIHER brings together community members, researchers, clinicians, community organizations, and other stakeholders committed to eliminating cancer health disparities across the cancer continuum. The recruitment and retention of African Americans in research studies has been a long-standing area of focus of her career. She has co-led efforts to better understand minority participation in research studies. These efforts include her Co-PI role on Enhancing Minority Participation in Clinical Trials (EMPaCT), a 5-site study of NCI Comprehensive Cancer Centers where investigators explored factors that contributed to the recruitment of minorities to cancer trials and developed a patient navigator training program, to train navigators at each of the sites to increase minority participation in cancer therapeutic trials. Dr. Martin was also Principal Investigator of a study that engaged patients with cancer (79% African American) in a trial to evaluate a patient education program. In addition to noting the points along the recruitment pipeline where potential participants were lost, results indicated that males were less likely to complete the recruitment activities and be enrolled in the study.

Raegan W. Durant, MD, MPH, is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the University of Alabama at Birmingham in both the Division of Preventive Medicine and General Internal Medicine. Dr. Durant received a BS in Biology from Howard University and MD from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed residency training in Internal Medicine at Duke University Medical Center and a research fellowship at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Harvard Medical School. During his fellowship, he also received a Master’s in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Durant’s research is focused on developing behavioral interventions to improve heart failure self-care among African Americans and reduce disparities in heart failure readmission rates. He also studies multi-level barriers to the recruitment of minorities into clinical trials as possible targets for system-level and behavioral interventions to increase diversity in research study populations. In addition to his research, Dr. Durant serves as Medical Director at Cooper Green Mercy Health Services, a multi-specialty, publicly-funded safety ambulatory care center.

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.

 

Kenneth A. Carpenter Sr. is the COO/Business Manager for Carpenter Primary Healthcare, PLLC. Prior to taking on a new career in healthcare, Ken completed a course in Medical Billing and Coding in the Division of Careers, Technology and Adult Education at Shelby County Schools. He is also the founder of the Sickle Cell 5K Run (renamed the Mark Waldren Annual 5K Sickle Cell Walk/Run), an effort that raises money for research and for a cure for sickle cell disease as well as to create awareness of the debilitating effects of this deadly disease.

Kenneth's and his wife Dr. Terrell C. Carpenter's philanthropic endeavors include the donation of the Carpenter House to the Sickle Cell Foundation of Tennessee (SCFT) which provides quality and affordable housing for adult males living with Sickle Cell Disease. As a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. and past board member of the Alpha Memphis Education Foundation (AMEF) Ken served as a co-chairman for “Project Alpha,” an annual collaborative-youth empowerment conference that focus on sexual activity and relationships among teenagers. He is also former mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters.

Dr. Fowke is an epidemiologist with a broad research program toward the focused investigation of prostate cancer, benign prostatic hyperplasia, and lower urinary tract symptoms. His research has been funded by the NCI, NIDDK, Department of Defense, American Institute of Cancer Research, and Prostate Cancer Foundation. Over 5,000 men have been recruited to these studies. Approaches often combine genomic markers with lifestyle and other data to understand the mechanisms of disease progression, and identify potential adjuvant care strategies. He also investigates the causes for race differences in urologic diseases, including differences in healthcare access or the differences in the underlying pathophysiology of the disease.

Luther Jarmon, Jr. grew up in Tuscumbia, Alabama and, in 1973, moved to Birmingham, Alabama after graduating from Tuskegee University. He retired from Allstate Insurance Company as a claims analyst in 2005 and recently retired from the Housing Authority Birmingham District as a Program Specialist. 

After retirement Luther became part of an initiative by the Minority Health and Research Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) called Healthy Congregations Healthy Communities (HCHC).  The goal of HCHC was to address the disparities of Type 2 Diabetes and colorectal cancer between whites and African Americans in Jefferson County. Even though the program ended years ago, Luther continues to conduct mini-seminars on diabetes and colorectal cancer at churches, businesses, radio and TV. Luther is also involved in the protection of human subjects in clinical trials by serving on the Institutional Review Board of UAB. 

James Mapson, is a Coordinator of Health Education/Patient Navigator with the Division of Preventive Medicine at The University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is from Birmingham, Alabama and is also a decorated Persian Gulf, Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm Navy veteran. He has worked in the field of recruitment and retention for various medical research studies for more than 20 years and is also a former Navy recruiter. He has administered HIV/AIDS testing, counseling, and taught prevention classes across the state of Alabama. He is currently working with the African American Men’s Health Initiative with an emphasis on motivational interviewing as it relates to their self-care.

Judy Seals Togbo has a Master’s in Social Work from Union University and a degree in History/Geography from University of Arkansas. An advocate for Men’s Health and Women’s Breast Cancer. Ms. Togbo is a founding board member for Urban Health Education Support Services (UHESS) and Community Action Teams of Shelby (CATS). She develops, organizes, implements and facilitates men’s health education components in West Tennessee. Ms. Togbo is a steering committee member for Memphis Breast Cancer Consortium (MBBCC). Also, she has presented posters at Westberg Institute for Faith Community Nursing, Black Nurses Association and American Association for Cancer Research. She is a member of the American Public Health Association (APHA), Arkansas Public Health Association (APHA) and Tennessee Public Health Association (TPHA).

Dr. David Shibata is the Scheinberg Endowed Chair in Surgery, professor and chairman of the Department of Surgery at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis. He received his surgical training at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Dr. Shibata's clinical practice is dedicated to the treatment of patients with colorectal cancer. He sits on the NCCN guidelines panel for cancers of the colon, rectum and anus and is a member of the Lower GI Cancer panel of the AJCC. His laboratory studies the molecular alterations associated with the development of colorectal cancer and HPV-associated malignancies. Dr. Shibata also has clinical research interests in quality of cancer care and health disparities.

I am a physician/scientist, and an Associate Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine at UTHSC. I have been involved in community outreach for nearly three decades, initially educating the public about human immunodeficiency virus, and progressing to prostate cancer and men’s health. I have had a strong clinical and research focus on prostate cancer in African American men. I am Past Section Chair of Urology for the National Medical Association, Past President of the R. Frank Jones Urological Society (an organization composed of African American Urologists in America), and Past Chair of Region III of the National Medical Association. I began prostate cancer research, basic science and clinical, during residency at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, and completed fellowship training at the National Cancer Institute.

At Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, I led the Louisiana statewide prostate cancer education and early detection initiative, and I founded the Louisiana Education Early Detection and Research Program which provided health education to tens of thousands of men and provided over thirteen thousand men PSA testing. Hurricane Katrina temporarily led me away from a stellar academic career to private practice in Urologic Oncology in Memphis, TN.

In returning to research in Memphis and UTHSC, my long term goal was to eliminate health care disparities. Over the past eleven years I have organized a faith-based Men’s Health Symposium that has educated men about the most prevalent and disparate chronic health conditions they experience. As a Senior Partner in The Urology Group, the majority of my patients are African American men with prostate cancer.

Dr. Shelley White-Means is a professor of Health Economics in the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Translational Sciences at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and director of the CHEER Health Disparities Center. She received her MA and PhD degrees from Northwestern University. Dr. White-Means’ research focuses on health disparities facing vulnerable populations. She has also studied labor market implications and racial/ethnic decision-making of family caregivers. Her current research projects focus on developing interventions to reduce racial disparities in breast health outcomes in Memphis, where racial disparities in breast cancer mortality have ranked highest in the nation.

A former president of the National Economic Association, current member of the National Academy of Social Insurance, and secretary of the Health Disparities IG for Academy Health, Dr. White-Means received funding from the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities to establish CHEER, a community-based health disparities research center.