Members of the campus community are invited to the Prevention Research Center for Healthy Neighborhoods’ (PRCHN) upcoming seminar, titled “Moving Beyond Symbolic Gestures: The Respectful Engagement of Underserved Communities in Research” Wednesday, April 13, at noon via Zoom.
Almost 30 years since the approval of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Revitalization Act, investigators are still challenged to ensure equitable and ethical inclusion of racial and ethnic underserved communities in the research enterprise, including clinical trials. The well-documented underrepresentation of racially minoritized groups in research demands action.
In this presentation, behavioral scientist Craig S. Fryer will explore key concepts in this empirical area and share a typology of community engagement representing common approaches in research. He will conclude the presentation with reflections on specific research experiences with diverse groups, in which engagement invariably shaped and impacted study outcomes.
About the speaker
Craig S. Fryer utilizes mixed methods study designs to examine the sociocultural and environmental contexts of health and well-being, with an emphasis on community engaged research. His scholarship focuses on racial and ethnic health inequities in substance use, specifically the intersection of tobacco and marijuana use among youth and young adult populations.
Fryer’s collateral research interests include: Black men’s mental health and coping; racism and health; and the influence of the urban environment on health. He has served as principal investigator and co-investigator on a multitude of research studies related to a wide-range of health behaviors and health outcomes, which have been funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA).
Fryer’s teaching, research, and service are guided by a commitment to creating a more just and equitable society for devalued and underserved communities. He completed his undergraduate work at Case Western Reserve University and obtained a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He earned his Doctor of Public Health degree from Columbia University.