CeRon Ford, MPH
Health Services Research, Policy & Administration PhD Student
University of Minnesota School of Public Health
Pronouns: he/him/his
Bio: CeRon is a Graduate Research Assistant, Ph.D. Student in the Division of Health Policy & Management at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health, and a member of AcademyHealth’s Disparities Interest Group Advisory Committee. His research interests include health policy, health inequities, structural racism, mental health, aging and long-term care, and sexual and gender minority health. Generally, his research examines the potential health impacts of U.S. health policies for historically disadvantaged populations. More specifically, Ford is interested in examining inequities that link structural racism and discrimination to health and U.S. health policies.
During his matriculation through his Master's program, CeRon advocated for tobacco and smoking policies in Southwest Atlanta and arbitrated information on health-related diseases to varying divisions at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. After earning his Master's degree, he provided academic support to core faculty and served on MPH Research Committees as the Health Administration, Management and Policy Teaching Associate in the Graduate Education in Public Health Department at Morehouse School of Medicine. As a Ph.D. student, he has served as a Graduate Assistant with C2DREAM Community Engagement Core and a Teaching Fellow for PHAP students in the Division of Health Policy & Management at the University of Minnesota’s School of Public Health.
CeRon earned his B.S. in Public Health from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and his M.P.H. from Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. CeRon is a 2023 AcademyHealth Diversity Scholar with aspirations of becoming a tenured professor and health policy consultant to policymakers, he plans to further develop an understanding of health inequities and racial inequities for historically marginalized populations.
Area of Emphasis: Health Policy
Advisors: Sarah Gollust, PhD and Carrie Henning-Smith, PhD, MPH, MSW
Research Interests
Public health, health policy, health services, public health ethics, health inequities and disparities, racial disparities, racism, long-term services and support, mental health, and sexual and gender minority health
Publications & Presentations
Fashaw-Walters, S. A., Rahman, M., Gee, G., Mor, V., Rivera-Hernandez, M., Ford, C., & Thomas, K. S. (2023). Potentially More Out of Reach: Public Reporting Exacerbates Inequities in Home Health Access. The Milbank quarterly, 10.1111/1468-0009.12616. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-0009.12616
Ford, C.O. Intergenerational Communication: What Public Health Educators, Students, and Practitioners Need to Know. The American Public Health Association, Annual Meeting, 2019; November 2019; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Oral)
Ford, C.O., Alema-Mensah, E., Archie-Booker, E., Warren, R. Perceived Racism and Reported Depression Among US Non-Hispanic Black and Non-Hispanic White Men. The American Public Health Association, Annual Meeting, 2020; October 2020; Virtual. (Oral)
Professional Activities
Member, American Public Health Association (2017 - Present)
Member, AcademyHealth (2022 - Present)
Collaborator, Equity and Quality in Long-Term Services and Supports (EQuaLS) Lab (2022 - Present)
Research Assistant, Center for Antiracism for Health Equity (CARHE) (2023 - Present)
Student Member, Minnesota Population Center (MPC) (2023 - Present)
Research Assistant, Policy, Equity, and Aging Care (PEACE) Research Lab (2022 - 2023)
Contact
Email: ford0588@umn.edu