Biography
My career in health education began when, as a doctoral student, I joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation AIDS Evaluation Project at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. As part of that effort, we traveled around the country and evaluated AIDS prevention and service projects. I visited a teen theater project in Westchester, NY; spent time at a rural runaway shelter in Alabaster, AL; and traveled in a mobile van nicknamed “Honey” serving prostitutes in the San Francisco Bay area, among others. A book about this initiative, AIDS Prevention in the Community: Lessons from the First Decade (1995), was published by the American Public Health Association. From that moment, I was hooked and wanted only to be involved in health education and health promotion.
Since then, I have been involved in a number of different research projects, often collaborating with physicians, to study quality of life and other patient-centered outcomes (e.g., satisfaction, health expectations, compliance with medical regimens). For more than a decade, I have directed the Quality of Life Interviewing Center that employs students to conduct standardized telephone interviews with participants in our clinical trials and intervention studies. All of my research is designed to improve the health of persons with various chronic conditions. Today, I am working with physicians, nurses, and other social scientists on a number of different projects related to glaucoma, breast cancer, ulcerative colitis, stroke, and pelvic floor disorders in women.
Degrees
A.A., Social Science, William Rainey Harper College, 1984
B.A., Political Science, DePaul University, 1986
M.S., Management of Public Services, DePaul University, 1988
M.P.H., Health Behavior & Health Education, University of Michigan, 1992
Ph.D., Higher Education, University of Michigan, 1999
Interests
I love teaching and have an extensive teaching portfolio that spans multiple disciplines, a wide range of students, and methods of instruction. At Siena Heights University, I was responsible for delivering almost the entire social science curriculum at one of their suburban campuses (e.g., gerontology, human sexuality, ethnic dimensions of American society, social ethics). I have taught public health courses to undergraduate and graduate students at the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University. I am very excited to be joining the faculty of the School of Health Sciences with its commitment to wellness and health promotion.
I also believe that you cannot study quality of life unless you have quality of life. To that end, I enjoy visiting with family and friends, watching old movies and almost any sporting events, playing golf and softball, and rough-housing with my shepherd-mix dog named Rally.