MEET THE TEAM

Jamie Mitchell, Ph.D., M.S.W., is an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Michigan, co-investigator community core co-leader with MCUAAAR. Her work focuses on disparities in health communication and health experiences for older Black men that lead to poor cancer and chronic disease outcomes. Dr. Mitchell is also the Assistant Director of Clinical Research Participation at Rogel Cancer Center, University of Michigan. In that role, she works to support researchers in diversifying their recruitment and retention efforts in cancer clinical trials, while helping to identify barriers to research participation in the community.  Dr. Mitchell is the principal investigator of “Recruiting and Retaining Older African Americans into Research”, the grant funded by the National Institute on Aging that funds Healthier Black Elders research and programming in Flint, MI (Grant 1R24AG065151-01). You can contact her at mitchj@umich.edu or the office number listed on her faculty profile here.

Tam Perry, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Wayne State University, co-investigator for MCUAAAR and MCUAAAR community core co-leader. Dr. Perry’s community-based research focuses on housing transitions for older adults, the effects of the Flint water crisis on older adults, and access to resources, caregiving and kind relationships, and comorbidities commonly experienced in older adulthood, among other interests. Learn more about Dr. Perry’s work here.

Kent Key, Ph.D., M.P.H., helps to oversee the The Healthier Black Elders-Flint program, he is also the third community core co-leader of MCUAAAR. Dr. Key is the Director of the Office of Community Scholars and Partnerships at Michigan State University in Flint, where he directs a community scholars program, the Community Action Council, Cross Campus/Institution Partnerships, and Community-Research Matching for research. Dr. Key is the founder of the Community Ethics Review Board (CERB),  a component of the Community-Based Organization Partners (CBOP). He is an expert in building equitable relationships between community and academic partners for health research and elevating community-identified health priorities to the research enterprise. You can reach Dr. Key at keykent@msu.edu and (810) 600-5663. Learn more about CBOP and CERB here.

Vanessa Rorai, M.S.W., is the Community Outreach Coordinator of Healthier Black Elders in Detroit. Vanessa  supports researchers in applying to and accessing the  Participant Resource Pool. She is the key contact for all members of the CAB in Detroit and the over 1000 Participant Resource Pool members in the Detroit community. Vanessa also coordinates the Lunch & Learn programming, identifies new partners for programming, and recruitment and retention activities, conducts regular training and supervises volunteers and graduate student workers, and a broad range of key functions central to the success of the HBE, CAB, and PRP in Detroit. If you are interested in participating in any of the studies listed here that are currently recruiting older adults, or, if you’re an academic researcher interested in recruiting from the Detroit PRP, please contact Vanessa at Vrorai@wayne.edu or (313) 664-2604.

Born and raised in Flint, MI, Ms. Cynthia Howell is the true definition of a community advocate. For over 25 years Ms. Howell has held various positions in Flint and Genesee County including the chairperson for Genesee County-Community Action Resource Department also known as GCCARD Senior Council and the vice chairperson on the Advisory Board of GCCARD. In addition to being a Community Advisory Board member for HBE Flint, she is now starting a new role as HBE Flint’s Outreach Coordinator. “I love being an advocate out in the community making a difference.” Ms. Howell said. “This job for me is a win-win; being able to disseminate and educate on important information and provide resources for seniors, like myself, that enable us to become healthier Black elders.” Ms. Howell is excited to share the HBE program with her Flint community. When asked what she is most proud of in Flint, she states “our resilience.” HBE-Flint is thrilled to welcome Ms. Howell to the team! If you are interested in learning more about the Healthier Black Elders Flint program, please contact Ms. Howell at hbeflint@gmail. com or at 810-309-8693.

Elena Flores, M.S.W., is a Project Manager at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research Center for Group Dynamics. Elena also oversees the development of the ENGAGE US website and guides or supports the activities of students and staff working with the Flint Healthier Black Elders (HBE) . Please contact Elena at floresed@umich.edu. 

Amanda J. Horn is the Community Outreach Specialist for the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research (MCUAAAR). Her role is within the Community Liaison Recruitment Core (CLRC) where she maintains and organizes all HBEC activities. This includes organizing the Lunch & Learn community education events, publishing the bi-annual newsletter, and managing the Participant Resource Pool (PRP) database. The PRP provides older African American adults the opportunity to participate in research and offers researchers a database to recruit for their studies. She also maintains relationships with the Community Advisory Board members that oversees all HBEC activities. Amanda is also a doctoral candidate in the department of Sociology at Wayne State University. Her research background and ongoing dissertation work focuses on visible and invisible chronic illness experiences as well as reconceptualizing stigma and medicalization as they intersect with gender.