Congratulations to HELI 2016 alum Charles R. Rogers, PhD, MPH, MS, CHES on his new K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award to Promote Diversity from the National Cancer Institute (NCI)!
The K01 project is entitled “Developing a Barbershop-Based Trial on Masculinity Barriers to Care and Colorectal Cancer Screening Uptake among African-American Men using a Mixed Methods Approach.” Dr. Rogers’ long-term career goal is to become an independent researcher who utilizes community-based approaches to develop, implement, and evaluate culture-specific interventions to eliminate cancer disparities among African-American men. The K01 study’s specific aims are to: 1) Validate and test a culture-specific masculinity barriers to care scale relative to psychosocial factors and colorectal cancer (CRC) screening uptake among African-American men; and 2) Develop and implement a theory-driven, culture-specific peer intervention that targets masculinity barriers to care, psychosocial factors, and CRC screening (fecal immunochemical test (FIT)) uptake among African-American men. Barbershops are historically known as culturally appropriate and trusted venues in African-American communities, and are critical for this research as they provide a pathway for reaching African-American men with masculinity barriers to care who are not regularly receiving healthcare services, and in particular, CRC screening. The proposed study and integrated training plan well-position Dr. Rogers to launch an independent investigator career focused on informing culture-specific interventions to eliminate cancer inequities among African-American men.
Dr. Rogers’ mentors on this award include Dr. Kola Okuyemi, Dr. Electra Paskett, Dr. Man Hung, Dr. Susan Zickmund, Dr. Michael Fetters, and Dr. Roland Thorpe. This training plan and research study also received invaluable developmental support from RISE-PRIDE, the NRMN, UM-MMP, Cancer Disparities Research Network/GMaP Region 4, Dr. Jared Jobe, among many others.
Dr. Rogers is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Family & Preventive Medicine in the Division of Public Health at Utah. Read his research statement here.
Best of luck, Dr. Rogers!
Health Equity Leadership Institute 