Welcome to the Health Equity & Cultural Diversity SIG
Celeste Vaughan-Briggs, LCSW
Mrs. Vaughan-Briggs has more than 29 years of social-work experience and now serves as Manager of the Free Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program at Thomas Jefferson University’s (Jefferson’s) Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia. The program serves several hundred women with diverse backgrounds who need cancer screening services each year from across the greater Philadelphia area. Additionally, as a skilled and compassionate oncology social worker, Vaughan-Briggs provides vital navigation and psychosocial support to these women and men throughout their course of treatment. She is an adjunct faculty member for the Temple University School of Social Work, the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Work and Social Policy and the previously with the Jefferson Community Health Worker Program. Prior to her Jefferson tenure, Vaughan-Briggs provided trauma-informed care and advocacy for individuals and families affected by sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder, and she has years of experience providing training to Philadelphia’s behavioral health providers on the impact childhood violence has on adults. A lifelong resident of Philadelphia, Vaughan-Briggs earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from Temple University and her Masters of Social Work from the University of Pennsylvania.
Traci N. Bethea, PhD
Dr. Traci N. Bethea is an Assistant Professor in the Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities Research and the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Her research focuses on chemical and non-chemical stressors underlying cancer health disparities affecting Black women. Most relevant to psycho oncology, she has ongoing projects investigating the role of poor sleep and sleep disparities on aging among cancer survivors and has collaborated on projects investigating the role of discrimination on function among cancer survivors and testing a tailored web-based cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia program among Black women. Other current work examines environmental exposures and other risk factors for accelerated aging among breast cancer survivors, risk factors for ovarian cancer incidence and survival, and the health effects of sleep disturbances. Her research on modifiable factors and breast cancer survivorship among Black women has been supported by a career development award from the National Cancer Institute. New research directions aim to apply a cells-to-society lens for actionable research leveraging relationships between the biologic, individual, and macroenvironmental levels to reduce socially patterned cancer disparities. Dr. Bethea’s research program also seeks to incorporate stakeholder perspectives and to engage minoritized scholars through ongoing education, outreach, and research translation activities. Dr. Bethea received a PhD in Environmental Health from Boston University School of Public Health and completed postdoctoral training in cancer epidemiology with the Black Women’s Health Study at the Slone Epidemiology Center at Boston University.
Our Mission: To advance the knowledge and practice of psychosocial cancer care for all members of society by eliminating barriers to inclusion and alleviating disparities.
To support APOS scientific and program efforts that address health equity, including:
-
- To foster awareness of health disparities in cancer, enhancing culturally and socio-ecologically responsive prevention/early detection/quality of life/psychosocial care, and promoting diversity inclusion in our field.
- To promote research, and clinical and supportive care to identify cancer disparities and promote optimal health related quality of life and survivorship outcomes for all.
- To develop and evaluate community‐based, culturally informed and clinically‐responsive research methods to enhance recruitment and retention of underserved and ethnic minority cancer populations in behavioral research trials.
To ensure that APOS scientific and program efforts involve a diverse and inclusive group of people
One of the APOS member benefits is to join the conversation on Groupsite with any of the 10 Special Interest Groups (SIGs). This is a very engaging conversation platform and the Executive Office is happy to help you navigate this platform and help you set up your profile to begin networking.
