Department of Public Health Education
Robert E. Aronson, DrPH, MPH, Associate Professor
PO Box 26170
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170
(336) 256-0119 (office)
(336) 334-3238 (fax)
rearonso@uncg.edu
Curriculum Vita
I received the Master of Public Health degree from the Department of Health Education, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in May 1986, and the Doctor of Public Health degree from the Department of International Health at the School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins University in May 1997. I have worked in the field of public health continuously since 1984, either in public health practice, research and/or teaching.
My research agenda has focused on: 1) developing approaches to evaluate community-level changes as outcomes of intervention efforts; and 2) applying a cultural ecological framework to understanding racial, ethnic and income related disparities in health outcomes. In recent years I have worked on the evaluation of complex community interventions, including: California Healthy Cities and Communities (1998-2003); Project DIRECT, a CDC funded national demonstration project for diabetes prevention and control (2002- present); Oklahoma Infants Assistance Program (1999-2000); Menīs Services Program of Baltimore City Healthy Start (1997-1998); and Baltimore City Healthy Start Infant Mortality Prevention Demonstration Program (1992-1997). Currently my research on health disparities has focused on mens health issues and on constructs of masculinity, manhood and fatherhood, and their relationships to risk factors for HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, and other health problems. I have extensive experience in ethnographic/qualitative research and program development and evaluation in minority communities in the U.S. Some of my research has been published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, including the American Journal of Public Health, Health Education and Behavior, Health Education Research, Health Promotion Practice, Journal of Community Psychology, American Journal of Community Psychology, Journal of Rural Health, and AIDS Education and Prevention.
I would like to focus my career on understanding the causes of health disparities experienced by African American males, and identifying effective intervention strategies for this population across the social ecology. African American males experience great disparities in morbidity and mortality for health problems across the board, many of which have roots in behaviors and living conditions linked to social inequalities and the experience of racism in American society. The set of problems experienced by African American men have a cascading effect on their families, their communities and the wider society. I would like to understand the nature and causes of problems experienced by this population across the life span. One important aspect of this inquiry will be to understand how African American men discuss what it means to be a man, particularly a black man in American society. This will involve understanding male role norms (culturally constructed expectations regarding menīs traits and how men behave), masculine ideology (menīs internalized adaptation of male role norms, including how men negotiate their masculinity in different settings), and gender role conflict or strain (how the difference between menīs views of how men ought to be and how they actually are influences their views of themselves).
I teach across all of our academic programs. In the undergraduate program, I have taught Introduction to Public Health and Community Observation and Assessment. The courses I teach in the MPH program include Community Health Analysis and Community Health Interventions. I am also teaching qualitative research methods in the doctoral program.
Research Areas
Men's health issues
Masculinities
Social Inequalities
Health Disparities
HIV/AIDS
Community evaluation