American Journal of Health Promotion
______________________________

Presents the Recipient of the 2009
Robert F. Allen
Symbol of
H.O.P.E.
Award

Rena J. Paick DrPH
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Rena J. Pasick DrPH. is the recipient of the 2009 Robert F. Allen Symbol of H.O.P.E. Award.
 
Dr. Pasick is Professor of Medicine at UCSF, Associate Director for Community Education and Outreach, and Co-Leader, Society, Diversity & Disparities Research at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center. Trained as a health educator, Dr. Pasick has worked in population-based cancer control research for the past 20 years. Her research has included large-scale intervention trials designed to increase the use of breast and cervical cancer screening among ethnically diverse and underserved women in African American, Chinese, Filipino, Latino, Vietnamese, and white communities.  Her current research topics include health communication for diverse communities; the assessment of survey research methods across cultures and languages; and the cultural appropriateness of health behavior theories.   Dr. Pasick’s past and current National Cancer Institute-funded R01 grants include: Behavioral Constructs and Culture in Cancer Screening (2001-2006), Cross-Cultural Communication for Colorectal Screening (2001-2005), Interactive Outreach: CIS - Link to the Underserved (2004-2008), and Statewide Communication to Reach Diverse Low Income Women (2007-2012). 

Dr. Pasick also founded and leads an NCI-funded R25 training grant (1999-2011), Increasing Diversity in Cancer Control Research, to encourage minority master’s students and master’s-trained health professionals to pursue a doctoral degree and careers as leaders in research.  In the course of three cycles of funding, this grant created a replication at UCLA, and Dr. Pasick is working with other colleagues around the country to facilitate further replications.  To date, 369 people have completed the program, and 78 (21%) went on to doctoral programs.  Of these, 50% are conducting cancer research.  The majority report that this program strongly influenced their career plans.
 
In her role as Associate Director, Community Education & Outreach, Dr. Pasick leads the Abundant Life Health Ministries Initiative, a participatory program in the African American faith community.  The purpose is to establish health ministries in churches throughout the SF Bay Area with a special emphasis on dissemination of evidence-based faith programs known to effectively increase healthy eating and exercise in the context of the church as well as use of cancer screening.
 
Among her publications, Dr. Pasick co-edited a supplemental volume of the journal Health Education Quarterly (1996) entitled “Promoting Cancer Screening in Ethnically Diverse and Underserved Communities: The Pathways Project”.  She is the author of a chapter entitled “Socioeconomic and Cultural Factors in the Development and Use of Theory” in Health Behavior and Health Education edited by Glanz, Lewis, and Rimer (1997), and a paper by Dr. Pasick and others was published in a special issue of Public Health Reports, “Data Quality in Multiethnic Health Surveys” (2001).  Recently, Dr. Pasick was lead author on a paper entitled “Lessons Learned in Cancer Screening Intervention Research” for a monograph jointly sponsored by the NCI, ACS and CDC and she published “A Critical Review of Theory in Breast Cancer Screening Promotion across Cultures” in the Annual Review of Public Health.  Forthcoming in October 2009 is a supplemental issue of Health Education & Behavior consisting of 7 papers and 5 commentaries on Dr. Pasick’s above-mentioned Behavioral Constructs study.
 
The Robert F. Allen Symbol of H.O.P.E. (Helping Other People through Empowerment) Award is presented annually by the American Journal of Health Promotion to an individual who makes an outstanding contribution to serving the health promotion needs of underserved populations or to promoting cultural diversity within health promotion. The cash award is made possible through grants provided by the California Wellness Foundation, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, and individual donors.