I am a professor and director of the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control in the Department of Internal Medicine at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, where I hold the Marion N. Rowley Designated Chair in Cancer Research. I also serve as the associate director for population sciences and community outreach, co-leader of the Cancer Control Program and founding director of the Center for Community Outreach and Engagement at the OSUCCC – James.

My research program is nationally recognized for studying cancer health disparities. The program has four major areas of focus and has evolved to utilize a team science approach to understanding and intervening in these problems: energy balance and cancer prevention; promoting the use of early-detection exams; improving access to diagnostic and treatment services; and preventing lymphedema, a chronic and potentially debilitating condition that occurs in many patients who undergo lymph node dissection as part of their cancer treatment.

Through my research, I find ways to help others prevent or reduce the burden of cancer by designing intervention strategies that persuade people to change their behavior and take control of their health. Some of my recent work focuses on intervention studies directed at cancer prevention, early detection and survivorship issues, specifically among underserved populations.

I lead several grant-funded projects, have published extensively in prestigious scientific journals and was a past president of the American Society of Preventive Oncology, which created a scholarship in my name to honor my highly successful two-year term as leader of that multidisciplinary society.