After completing her bachelor’s degree in Tennessee and medical school in India, Abraham arrived in Louisville seven years ago. She was shadowing doctors and getting ready for a medical residency when she became intrigued by the idea of helping not just individuals but populations.

“I am a numbers person so I was comparing clinical versus population health data and seeing how research could impact a lot more people,” Abraham said.

Once she decided to embark on her master’s degree in public health at the University of Louisville School of Public Health and Information Sciences (SPHIS), Abraham met Stephanie Boone, a two-time UofL alumna (MPH ’08, PhD ’13) and associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health and faculty member at the Brown Cancer Center, Boone encouraged her to apply for the PhD program and got her involved in epidemiological research.

Now a graduate of SPHIS, Abraham has been working as the coordinator of the Kentucky Core (Boone, PI) of the RURAL (Risk Underlying Rural Areas Longitudinal) Study. This is a large National Institutes of Health-funded study to conduct community engagement and evaluate heart and lung diseases among rural populations in four states: Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

Abraham has connected with local communities in Perry, Breathitt, Boyle and Garrard counties in Kentucky, to help recruit more than 1,000 residents and provide education and resources for unmet needs for hundreds at community meetings and events.

Since 2021, Abraham has been building a network, spreading the message and promoting the study, becoming a constant presence and trusted local contact in these counties. A mobile exam unit is traveling county by county and offering free health screenings to participants to determine lung, heart and overall wellness indicators.

Abraham, Boone and epidemiology graduate assistant Scotland Stewart, along with Community Advisory Boards established from each of the counties, meet with residents virtually or in person at city councils, church events, health fairs and festivals.

“You don’t want them to think you’re just there to use them for their data and leave,” Abraham said. “We want to share the results with the community and help them find funding or grants and design programs for what the data shows is lacking in their community.”

Establishing the participant cohort for the study has been a game changer for each community’s health now and in the future. “The CT scan on the mobile unit can measure Coronary Artery Calcium, which could show an individual if they are at risk for future heart disease, but also the scans have found incidental findings in the lung or other health concerns that people did not know existed, which is life-changing,” Abraham said. “It’s gratifying to know that your work does mean something and it is actually making a difference.”

Abraham plans to continue in her role until study participant recruitment is completed in Kentucky. After that, Abraham said she hopes to seek post-doc opportunities to take her population level research one step further into dissemination and implementation.

“Research shouldn’t just be about publishing papers, it should be about translating your findings to make a positive impact in people’s lives – that’s where my heart is.”

UofL News: How has the CEP program contributed to your goals?

Delvon Mattingly: One of my long-term goals is to obtain a PhD and continue improving public health via research and advocacy. The CEP represented one of my first experiences conducting a real secondary data analysis with the help of brilliant mentors. Prior to enrolling in the CEP, I had limited introductory knowledge of public health and epidemiology through my undergraduate coursework. I graduated with a BS in Public Health from UofL a few weeks before the CEP began. This program exposed me not only to the world of epidemiological research, but also cancer research. The experience helped alleviate my doubts about pursing a graduate degree in a heavily research-oriented discipline.

UofL News: Who was your mentor in the CEP program?

Delvon Mattingly: My CEP mentor was Dr. Richard Baumgartner. I also worked with Dr. Kathy Baumgartner and Dr. Stephanie Boone in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at the School of Public Health and Information Sciences. I also would like to acknowledge Dr. Rachel Neal in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences, who informed me about the program and encouraged me to apply.

UofL News: When did you decide to pursue the health sciences?

Delvon Mattingly:��I’ve always wanted to pursue a career in a health-related discipline. I grew up witnessing my family, close friends and members of my communities struggle with chronic illness, on top of dealing with socioeconomic disadvantages. I played the aspiring doctor role until I discovered public health, which I didn’t know much about at the time.

I often refer to my introduction to public health as serendipitous. The year I moved back to Louisville from attending Western Kentucky University was the same year UofL launched an undergraduate public health program. I decided to give the program a shot, and transferred from WKU to UofL. As it turned out, I fell in love with public health. I was among the program’s first graduating class, and I learned a lot from UofL’s incredible faculty.��

I expect to complete a MS degree in epidemiology at the end of this summer. I’ll defend my thesis sometime in the next couple of months.

UofL News:��What’s next?

Delvon Mattingly:��I’m attending the University of Michigan this fall for a PhD in Epidemiology. I will conduct research at the Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health with Dr. Nancy Fleischer as my primary mentor. My research interests focus on social determinants of health and health disparities in vulnerable populations, both in the United States and globally.

I want to conduct research that integrates a multi-faceted approach to understanding health inequalities in populations including racial/ethnic minority groups and the LGBTQ community. The hope is to promote efforts and advocacy toward eliminating these disparities and improving overall population health.

I also have an interest in life course epidemiology, cancer epidemiology and the epidemiology of substance use — including tobacco use. At the moment, I work with the American Heart Association Tobacco Regulatory and Addiction Center (A-TRAC) and Green Heart Louisville.

UofL News: What advice would you give to someone considering UofL’s Cancer ����ֱ�� Program?

Delvon Mattingly:��I would tell them the CEP is a fulfilling experience and to take advantage of networking opportunities with the many mentors and peers with similar research interests. Although I went into the program with no background in cancer research experience, it is a great way to get your foot in the door. Every participating student works on a variety of cancer-related research projects with different mentors. It was fascinating to see my peers’ completed research projects at the undergraduate symposium and Research!Louisville events.

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As a Thought Leader-Plus, Harper is called upon to provide expert commentary on topics in her field — primarily health care for women — as well as topics that do not have a strict medical focus. Most recently, Harper was asked to comment on physicians making diagnoses of famous people without seeing them face-to-face.

“(Physicians) have trained powers of observation to aid us in diagnosing illnesses. But powers of observation alone can be inaccurate or inaccurately interpreted. Without having the person be a part of the shared person-doctor relationship, harmful misdiagnoses will occur. Speculation about someone’s health, in the parlance of physicians, often causes more harm than benefit,” she said in the posted Sept. 13 in the wake of news reports about the pneumonia and dehydration diagnoses of presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

In addition to holding an endowed professorship and chair, Harper also serves as a professor of obstetrics and gynecology in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women’s Health; a professor of bioengineering at the ; and a professor of epidemiology and population health and of health promotion and behavioral health sciences in the School of Public Health and Information Sciences. Her expertise and primary research focus is prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases related to human papillomavirus. She joined the UofL faculty in 2013.

Harper was one of the United States clinician scientists leading the global research effort for prophylactic human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines to control cervical cancer. She has been a lead author in the multiple Lancet publications and co-author of more than 100 additional articles on cervical cancer prevention. She has helped establish U.S. national guidelines for the nomenclature of cervical cytology and the screening and management strategies for women with abnormal cytology and histology. She also has consulted for and published with the World Health Organization on the use of prophylactic HPV vaccines.��

She is currently a member of the NIH’s Population Sciences and Epidemiology Integrated Review Group of the Epidemiology of Cancer Study Section and an active grant reviewer for many national organizations. In February, she was appointed to the , an appointed panel that issues evidence-based recommendations about clinical preventive services such as screenings, counseling services, and preventive medications.