Kenneth Resnicow

Ken Resnicow is the Irwin M. Rosenstock Collegiate Professor of Public Health in the Health Behavior and Health Education department of the University of Michigan, Cancer Center Director of Health Disparities Research, and a senior leader at the Center for Health Communications Research (CHCR). Dr. Resnicow is an internationally recognized expert in design and evaluation of health promotion interventions and motivational interviewing (MI), and is a leading expert in conceptualizing and designing culturally sensitive community-based interventions for health promotion. He is also an expert in community-based interventions for nutrition, physical activity, and smoking prevention in minorities. Dr. Resnicow specializes in theory-based tailoring including ethnic identity and self-determination theory. His research interests include the design and evaluation of health promotion programs for special populations, particularly cardiovascular and cancer prevention interventions for African Americans; understanding the relationship between ethnicity and health behaviors; and motivational interviewing for chronic disease prevention. He has worked extensively with numerous universities, research and practitioner groups worldwide as well as health voluntary (e.g., American Cancer Society, American Dietetics Association, Academy of Pediatrics) and government agencies, including the NIH and CDC. Dr. Resnicow is an investigator on the Communication and Dissemination Core of the CanSORT P01 award “The Challenge of Individualizing Treatments for Patients with Breast Cancer”.

Education

• Ph.D., Health Psychology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Ferkauf Graduate School, 1985
• B.A., Psychology and Philosophy, Yeshiva College, 1980

Research Interests & Projects

Research interests include: the design and evaluation of health promotion programs for special populations, particularly cardiovascular and cancer prevention interventions for African Americans; understanding the relationship between ethnicity and health behaviors; school-based health promotion programs; substance use prevention and harm reduction and motivational interviewing for chronic disease prevention.

Studies include: Health Body Healthy Spirit, an NHLBI funded intervention to increase physical activity, fruits, and vegetables among African Americans recruited through Black churches using motivational interviewing; GO GIRLS, an NHLBI funded study to develop an obesity prevention program for overweight African American females; Body and Soul, an NIH/ACS collaboration to disseminate proven cancer control interventions using lay health advisors; and a FOGARTY/NIH study to develop smoking prevention programs for South African Youth.

Selected Publications

• Alexander GL, McClure JB, Calvi JH, Divine GW, Stopponi MA, Rolnick SJ, Heimendinger J, Tolsma DD, Resnicow K, Campbell MK, Strecher VJ, Johnson CC; MENU Choices Team. (February, 2010). A randomized clinical trial evaluating online interventions to improve fruit and vegetable consumption. American Journal of Public Health 319-326.
• Resnicow K, Zhang N, Vaughan RD, Reddy SP, James S, Murray DM. (February, 2010). When Intraclass Correlation Coefficients Go Awry: A Case Study From a School-Based Smoking Prevention Study in South Africa. American Journal of Public Health e1-e5.
• Resnicow K, Strecher V, Couper M, Chua H, Little R, Nair V, Polk TA, Atienza AA (January, 2010). Methodologic and design issues in patient-centered e-health research. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 98-102.
• Lawman H, Wilson DK, VanHorn L, Resnicow K. (2010). The Relationship between Psychosocial Correlates and Physical Activity in Underserved Adolescent Boys versus Girls in the ACT Trial Journal of Physical Activity & Health.
• Davis RE, Couper MP, Janz NK, Caldwell CH, Resnicow K. (September, 2009). Interviewer effects in public health surveys. Health Education Research 14-26.
• Tolsma D, Calvi J, Davis RE, Greene SM, Resnicow K, Anderson J, Wiese C, Alexander G. (July, 2009). Challenges in researching racially sensitive topics in HMOs. Health Psychology 389-390.
• Ellerbeck EF, Mahnken JD, Cupertino AP, Cox LS, Greiner KA, Mussulman LM, Nazir N, Shireman TI, Resnicow K, Ahluwalia JS. (April, 2009). Effect of varying levels of disease management on smoking cessation: a randomized trial. Annals of Internal Medicine 437-46.

Professional Affiliations

• American Psychological Association
• Society of Behavioral Medicine (Fellow)