PRC Minority Fellowship

In collaboration with the Association of Schools of Public Health,* CDC selects doctoral-level students of ethnic or racial minority origin for two years of training and guided research at a Prevention Research Center. The fellows are mentored by academic researchers and community participants as they conduct research with the PRCs’ partnering community. These communities are distinct by race or ethnicity, age, income, or other socioeconomic factors.

The fellowship started in 2002. Since then, 35 fellows have participated in the program, including the four fellows that started in 2008. The fellow’s name, host university, start date, and research topic are listed below.

New Fellows

Name: Barbara Baquero
Host:  San Diego State University & University of California at San Diego
Year: 2008
Research Topic: Social, cultural and ecological influences on obesity-related health indicators among Mexicans/Mexican-Americans along the U.S.-Mexico border in Southern California

Name: Timothy Cunningham
Host:  Harvard University
Year: 2008
Research Topic: Determining the Effects of Racial Discrimination on Cardiovascular Disease Risk

Name: Gwendolyn Hudson
Host:  University of Alabama at Birmingham
Year: 2008
Research Topic: Community Resilience and Disaster Management

Name: Kelly Wekheye
Host:  University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Year: 2008
Research Topic: Kids Eating Smart and Moving More (KESMM)

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Continuing Fellows

Name: Tamala David
Host: University of Rochester
Year: 2007
Research Topic: Comparing the use of a written health surveillance survey among deaf and hearing college freshmen

Name: Suzanna Martinez
Host: San Diego State University & University of California at San Diego
Year: 2007
Research Topic: Researching the relationships between individual, social, and environmental factors affecting physical activity among Latinos along the California-Mexico border

Name: Daisy Morales-Campos
Host: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Year: 2007
Research Topic: Analyzing acculturation and family influence on the sexual behavior of Latino youth in Houston, Texas

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Past Fellows

Name: Chanza Baytop
Host: Johns Hopkins University
Year: 2003
Research Topic: Evaluation of the “Teenage Mother’s Program” offered to the community by the Baltimore City Health Department

Name: Julie Garza
Host: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Year: 2004
Research Topic: Relationship between bullying and school performance among adolescents

Name: Angela Garzon
Host: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Year: 2002
Research Topic: Differences in risk factors for ovarian cancer by race and ethnicity in Texas’s multiethnic population

Name: Diana Grigsby
Host: University of Illinois at Chicago
Year: 2005
Research Topic: Neighborhood wellbeing on type 2 diabetes risk in African American and Latino youth

Name: Tilly Gurman
Host: Johns Hopkins University
Year: 2005
Research Topic: ¿Que pasa? What's up with the sexual content of television programs popular among Latino adolescents

Name: Roderick Harris
Host: University of Pittsburgh
Year: 2006
Research Topic: Promoting the 10 Keys to Healthy Aging among African-American seniors: lessons learned

Name: Lorna Haughton
Host: Saint Louis University
Year: 2003
Research Topic: How intrapersonal, interpersonal, and environmental factors influence physical activity

Name: Maria Lopez
Host: State University of New York at Albany
Year: 2004
Research Topic: Diabetes prevention and management programs for the Latino community in Amsterdam, New York

Name: Lisa Martin-Crawford
Host: University of Minnesota
Year: 2005
Research Topic: Prevention of type 2 diabetes in Ojibway youth

Name: Craig Martinez
Host: Johns Hopkins University
Year: 2006
Research Topic: Determining the effects of acculturation and peers on marijuana use among Mexican-American youth

Name: Priscah Mujuru
Host: University of Pittsburgh
Year: 2002
Research Topic: Exposure to air pollution as a risk for cardiovascular disease among elderly residents of Pennsylvania’s Allegheny County

Name: Christina Mushi-Brunt
Host: Saint Louis University
Year: 2004
Research Topic: Social and environmental factors associated with overweight among African American preadolescent girls

Name: Veronica Oates
Host: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Year: 2003
Research Topic: Effectiveness of and skills needed by lay health advisors who lead cancer prevention programs at churches and work sites

Name: Cassandra Okechukwu
Host: Harvard University
Year: 2007
Research Topic: Determining the social determinants of smoking behaviors among working class populations

Name: Dionne Otey
Host: Columbia University
Year: 2004
Research Topic: Breast cancer knowledge and health literacy levels among urban African American women

Name: Typhanye Penniman
Host: University of California at Los Angeles
Year: 2006
Research Topic: Developing family-centered HIV health care

Name: Jeffery Peterson
Host: University of New Mexico
Year: 2004
Research Topic: Involvement of American Indian communities in the center's participatory research

Name: Lisa Pullen
Host: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Year: 2002
Research Topic: Physical activity and the disproportionate effect of type 2 diabetes in African American women

Name: Mary Roary
Host: University of Arizona
Year: 2004
Research Topic: Patients’ participation in health care for diabetes and the effects of education on their health status

Name: Raphael Travis
Host: University of California at Los Angeles
Year: 2003
Research Topic: Analysis of whether community-based youth programs in Carson, California, support positive youth development

Name: Bernardo Useche
Host: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston
Year: 2005
Research Topic: Personal and external determinants of sexual initiation among Latino adolescents

Name: Naima Wong
Host: University of Michigan
Year: 2006
Research Topic: Adolescents’ perspectives on solutions to violence and evaluation of a youth-driven advocacy forum

Name: Michele Ybarra
Host: Johns Hopkins University
Year: 2002
Research Topic: Adolescents’ Internet use and self-reported symptoms of depression and delinquency behavior

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Cancer Track (funded in 2004 by the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control)

Name: Nadine Chan
Host: University of Washington
Year: 2004
Research Topic: Cancer prevention and tobacco control in Asian communities

Name: Bettina Drake
Host: University of South Carolina
Year: 2004
Research Topic: Prostate cancer screening among African American men in South Carolina

Name: Shedra Amy Snipes
Host: University of Washington
Year: 2004
Research Topic: Pesticide exposure among immigrant farmworkers from Mexico

Name: Reginald Tucker-Seeley
Host: Harvard University
Year: 2004
Research Topic: Effect of local fiscal policies for cancer prevention research on social disparities in health

Name: Tatia Woodward
Host: University of Washington
Year: 2004
Research Topic: Attitudes toward genetic testing for colon cancer among Korean Americans

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