DRAFT 2.26.2020 [Recovered] 4.21.2020

Fall 2020
Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture, and Health
Department of Health Behavior & Health Education
University of Michigan

TABLE OF CONTENT
ON THE COVER
DONATE to CRECH

FROM THE DIRECTOR
CRECH will continue to
provide The opportunity
for the School of Public
Health,
And the profession itself,
to open doors to the
American
experience and how it
impacts health and
disease.
CRECH will continue to provide
The opportunity for the School of
Public Health,
And the profession itself, to open
doors to the American
experience and how it impacts
health and disease.

“CRECH continues to develop new approaches to
those aspects of research, teaching, and practice
that focus on the description and reduction of
racial and ethnic health disparities.”
--Cleo Howard Caldwell, Director

The Paul B. Cornely
Postdoctoral
Program
Dr. Paul B. Cornely
Cleopatra Howard Caldwell, Ph.D.
Program Director
Center for Research on Ethnicity,
Culture, and Health (CRECH)
University of Michigan
School of Public Health
Funding Source: UMSPH
5

Dr. Paul B. Cornely
History
1928
Received his A.B.
from U of M
1934
Received his Dr.P.H.
from U of M
1962-1964
Founded the
District of Columbia
Public Health
Association was its
first President
1970
Dr. Cornely was
president of the
American Public
Health
Association
1931
Received his
M.D. from U of M
1958-1960
Pioneered in the use
of neighborhood
health workers as
early as 1958-1960.
1968
UM Board of Regents
conferred on Dr.
Cornely the honorary
degree of Doctor of
Science
6

Cornely Postdoctoral Fellowship Residential
Program
⬗ In 1988, the Paul B. Cornely the Postdoctoral Program for
Minority Scholars was established in honor of Dr. Cornely.
⬗ The two-year program is designed to increase the number
of scholars from underrepresented groups in academic
public health conducting research on the clarification,
reduction and elimination of racial and ethnic health
disparities.
7
⬗ The program is designed to enhance research skills
directed at addressing racial and ethnic health disparities.
⬗ Highly competitive scholars selected for this position work
closely with a UMSPH faculty mentor with similar research
interest.

Former Cornely Postdoctoral Fellow – Dr. Rohan Jeremiah
Cornely Fellow – 2012-2013
Dr. Rohan D. Jeremiah is an Associate
Professor of Community Health Sciences,
School of Public Health, University of
Illinois at Chicago.
Rohan Jeremiah, MPH ‘06
March 27, 2020, Alumni,
Health Behavior and Health
Education, MPH, Child Health,
Community Partnership,
Disaster Relief, Diversity
Equity and Inclusion, Engaged
Learning, Epidemic, Global
Public Health, Health
Behavior and Health
Education, Health Disparities,
Infectious Disease, Men's
Health, Mental Health,
Poverty, Violence, Women's
Health
is an Assistant Professor of Community
Health Sciences at the University of Illinois
at Chicago, School of Public Health. He is
a global public health researcher with
training in Applied Medical Anthropology,
and Health Behavior and Education. His
research activities are at the intersection
of substance use, violence, and HIV/AIDS
with a purpose to develop interventions to
reduce trauma, disease risks and mortality
among racial, ethnic and gender minority
men. Currently, his primary research
activities are focused on: (a) harmreduction
services for sexual, gender
minority young adults in Chicago; and (b)
trauma-informed assessments and service
delivery for resettled ethnic-minority
refugee men in the United States. Dr.
Jeremiah has completed research studies
on several global health issues including:
“Intimate Partner Violence from a Male
Perpetrator’s Perspective,” “Behavioral
Risk Patterns among Men who have Sex
with Men within the Caribbean,” and “The
Intersections between HIV/AIDS and
Intimate Partner Violence among
Commercial Sex Workers.” Those and
other studies are available in several
academic journals such as the American
Journal of Men’s Health, International
Journal of Men’s Health, Child Abuse and
Neglect, Frontiers Public Health, Sage
Case Methods, and Global Health
Perspectives. His field

the United Nations; US
President’s Emergency Plan for
AIDS Relief (PEPFAR); and US
Agency for International
Development (USAID). He has
held faculty positions at St.
George’s University, School of
Medicine (Grenada, West
Indies) and University of West
Indies (Trinidad, West Indies).

On Friday, March
16 2018 / School of
Public Health, Ryan
Wade, with his
Dissertation Chair,
Dr. Gary Harper,
defended his
dissertation titled:
Racialized Sexual
Discrimination and
Psychological
Wellbeing among
Young Black
Gay/Bisexual Men
(YPGBM).

Ryan Wade, PhD 2018
Assistant Professor, Illinois School of Social Work
Ryan is currently investigating a phenomenon
known as Racialized Sexual Discrimination (RSD), as
experienced by gay/bisexual men of color on mobile
apps and websites used for dating and sexual
networking. He uses mixed methods to develop,
validate, and refine a multidimensional scale of RSD.
He also uses quantitative methods to examine the
association between RSD sub-scales and markers of
psychological wellbeing (e.g., depressive symptoms
and feelings of self-worth).
My work predominantly examines
disparities in psychological
wellbeing among young Black
gay/bisexual men (YBGBM).

EDUCATION

UROP advantage
Myka Yamasaki, BA ’19
Debate Teacher at Success
Academy Charter Schools
in New York City
Established in 1988-1989, the Undergraduate Research Opportunity
Program (UROP) marked its 30 th anniversary. The program creates
research partnerships between undergraduate students and University
of Michigan (U-M) researchers and local community partners and
organizations. Students engage in research and creative projects with
research mentors representing all 19 colleges/schools/units at U-M.
UROP focuses on the skills, perspectives, and resources that diverse
students bring to higher education by encouraging them toward a
life-long appreciation for discovery, building understanding across
differences, and critically examining information in the world around
them. Myka Yamasaki became a CRECH intern during
the 2017-18 academic year.

Kaitlynn Drako (on left) U-M student in
Biology, Health, Society major for a
career in animal veterinary medicine
Myka and Kaitlynn were hired to work on the Flint Youth and the Water Crisis
project. The UROP Program’s Annual Research Symposia at the Michigan Union
in April is the culminating event for all students who participated in the program.
Myka presented a poster entitled “ The Flint Water Crisis: Examining the
Relationship between Racial Identity and Psychological Distress in adolescents.”
Kaitlynn’s poster addressed social support and psychological distress among
male and female black youth during the Flint water crisis. Kaitlyn became a
CRECH intern during the 2017-18 academic year.

Raven Odom and Brittany Dowe
at U-M’s 2018 Graduation

Former CRECH Research
Assistants, Brittany Dowe and
Raven Odom worked on
various research projects
during their tenure at the
center.
Brittany Dowe, MS ‘18
Raven Odom, MPH ‘18
Today, Brittany is working at
Wayne State and is jointly
appointed in the School of
Medicine, Department of
Oncology, and at Karmanos
Cancer Institute in their office
of Cancer Health Equity and
Community Engagement. She
works as a project coordinator
on a National Cancer Institute
funded grant, so she is helping
develop and manage
community health education
interventions related to cancer.
Brittany finds her work really
rewarding.
Health Advocacy
Administrative Fellow
Grand Rapids African
American Health Institute

“CRECH provides space
where students from
different racial and ethnic
backgrounds can exchange
ideas with each other
about the fundamental
causes of and possible
solutions to persistent
racial and ethnic health
disparities..”
--Sherman A. James,
Founding CRECH Director
Janae Best will be graduating
this year. She will be doing
great things and plans to attend
the U-M doctoral program in the
fall 2020.

CRECH ALUMS: Dedicated to Addressing
Social Determinants of Health to Improve
Health and Reduce Health Disparities
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?

RESEARCH
EDUCATION

Parenting and Men’s Health: The Utility of the
Fathers and Sons Program
Now in it’s fifth year, the “Fathers and Sons’ study run by Dr.
Cleopatra Howard Caldwell at the U-M School of Public
Health, is nearing the end of its run. The program is funded
by the National Institutes of Health _______.
“The purpose of this activity is to allow the fathers to see
who is important in their sons’ lives, especially with regard
to their friends,” Caldwell said in an interview.
In that study, of 158 father-son pairs, researchers
proposed that a two-month intensive bonding
experience and parenting classes might influence a
boy’s choices as he grows up. Boys ages 9-12
participated with their fathers.
Recruitment is scheduled to begin in late February
for a five-year, one-of-a-kind, federally funded effort
to strengthen the bond between nonresidential black
fathers and their sons ages 8 to 12, with the aim of
decreasing the sons' risky behavior and enhancing
the men's parenting.

RESEARCH

Building Capacity for Research and Action: Establishing A Youth
Participatory Action Research (YPAR) Steering Committee
Project Background Two-Day Training Workshop Voices of the Youth
In 2016, the Flint Fathers and Sons Steering Committee
and the Center for Research on Ethnicity, Culture, and
Health at the UM School of Public Health conducted
Community Forums with 13-17 year old youth from Flint.
The YPAR Project is an outgrowth of recommendations
from these Community Forums held with 66 youth. This
Project is supported by a MICHR Building Capacity for
Research and Action Award.
Project Goals:
‣ To prepare youth to work collaboratively with
community and university researchers to understand
health risks from the Flint Water Crisis.
‣ To introduce youth to environmental and participatory
action research methods for data collection and
analysis.
‣ To assist youth in presenting their research findings in
a Community Forum and translating them into a
Community Action Plan.
Benefits of YPAR
Twenty youth, aged 13 to 17, were recruited to
participate in the YPAR Project. The Project began with
a two-day training workshop, followed by two days in the
field to collect data.
Conducting Participatory
Action Research
Qualitative / Quantitative
Research
Developing Research
Questions
Environmental Risk
Assessment - Healthy
Housing Principles
Literacy
Workshop Topics
Environmental Risk
Assessment - SoilSHOP
Community Asset Mapping
Photovoice
Health Communication with
Social Media
Developing a Community
Action Plan
Evaluation Data
Field Research Projects
What youth wanted to know:
‣ “How did we get lead in water?”
‣ “How do you get lead in your body just from
jumping in the water?
‣ “What steps can we take?”
‣ “What can we do to improve the health of
children?”
‣ “What can we do to improve the health of our
family?
Youth In Action
Youth-led Participatory Action Research (YPAR)
‣ YPAR is an approach to research and social change
involving youth as experts in identifying and solving
problems important to them by conducting research and
advocating for change.
‣ Youth become empowered by conducting research
projects designed to address issues they see as
important.
‣ The YPAR Project focused on environmental social
justice through the eyes of the youth you see here today.
‣ Their group posters reflect their vision of community
problems related to the Flint Water Crisis as well as
community strengths that can be used to advocate for
change.
‣ Please talk with our youth about their experiences in this
research Project.
Environmental Social Justice Projects
Group 1: Photovoice – use pictures to show good and
bad
things policy makers
should know about.
Healthy Housing – tests
indoor contaminants.
SoilSHOP – tests soil for
lead contamination.
Group 2: Photovoice & SoilSHOP – pictures and test soil
Group 3: Photovoice & SoilSHOP – pictures and test soil
Group 4: Photovoice & SoilSHOP – pictures and test soil
Group 5: Photovoice - pictures
Project Research Team
Cleopatra Howard Caldwell, PhD, PI E. Hill De Loney, MA, Community PI
Cassandra L. Brooks, MA, MSA
Michael
Muhammad, PhD
DeWaun Robinson
Simone Charles, PhD
Janae Best
Kazumi Tsuchiya, PhD
Lynda Fuerstnau
Meredith Hope, PhD
Community Facilitators
Fathers and Sons Steering Committee

Flints True Background
• When were in Flint we saw
lots of flints history and
background and all the
whole gist of what flint is
and what it represents and
the things that happened
and the things that
represents it.
• This actually is a huge
advantage of flint because
we have one of the top ten
most successful university in
the world.
• Re-building lint one brick at
a time meaning these roads
have carried many feet have
walked upon it & many cars
have drove upon it.
• Meaning that the liter that
people are throwing and
making it into what others
actually think the definition
of flint truly is.
• This water is actually a
monument showing what
Flint residents actually
represent and what we went
through in our lives and the
water we had to drink.
• We just went and took
pictures of the church. This
picture represents one of
the main history points
which is something we are
trying to get others to
realize.

Dr. Paul B. Cornely
History
1928
Received his A.B.
from U of M
1934
Received his Dr.P.H.
from U of M
1962-1964
Founded the District
of Columbia Public
Health Association
was its first President
1970
Dr. Cornely was
president of the
American Public
Health Association
1931
Received his
M.D. from U of M
1958-1960
Pioneered in the
use of
neighborhood
health workers as
early as 1958-
1960.
1968
UM Board of Regents
conferred on Dr. Cornely
the honorary degree of
Doctor of Science
37