Renicha (“Nish”) McCree-Hale did a CaRES internship in Jamaica in 2008 with Dr. Pauline Jolly (Professor of Epidemiology). In their study, “Educational Interventions for Prostate Cancer Screening in Jamaica,” 188 men attending outpatient clinics in a hospital in Western Jamaica completed an interviewer-administered pretest survey. Following the pretest, participants received a health education intervention related to prostate cancer, as well as an immediate posttest survey. Nish and her CaRES colleague, Kim Rutley-Campbell, found that study participants were receptive to learning information about prostate cancer. The use of a theory-based educational intervention improved their knowledge of prostate cancer risk factors, symptoms and screening options. This CaRES project was Nish’s first — but not only — study of cancer control in low resource settings . . . it was a sign of things yet to come! For her dissertation in Health Behavior Nish chose to study barriers to and facilitators of cervical cancer screening and treatment in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. In January 2009 Nish joined UAB’s Cancer Prevention and Control Training Program (CPCTP), supported by an R25 grant (as is CaRES) from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Later that year she was chosen as a Fogarty International Clinical Research Scholar and was placed in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where she served from July 2010 to July 2011. In Dar she worked with the Management and Development for Health / Harvard PEPFAR program and with the Ocean Road Cancer Institute, the only national cancer center in Tanzania. Nish is currently the Science Office Chief/Associate Director for Science Tanzania with the CDC and continues her work in global cancer prevention and control in low resource settings. CaRES is proud to have played a key role early in her career development. Nish serves as a role model for CaRES students of the future.
