Faculty/Staff James Butler, MEd, DrPH

 

Assistant Professor

Graduate School of Public Health
A223 Crabtree Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15261

Phone: 412-383-8630
Fax: 412-383-5846
E-mail: jbutler9@pitt.edu

 

 

RESEARCH

My research is anchored in an ecological framework that incorporates individual and social structure/environmental influences in understanding and eliminating health disparities. Specifically, I use a community-based approach to enhance a community’s ability to identify, mobilize, and address the issues that it faces, thus leading to improved community health and increased community capacity. In addition, I have used motivational interviewing counseling to design intervention strategies to address cancer risk factors (tobacco use and dietary habits), obesity, and type 2 diabetes. I collaborate with and am a faculty member of the Centers for Public Health Practice and Preparedness and the Pennsylvania and Ohio Public Health Training Center.

TEACHING

I have cotaught the required capstone course for all master's and doctoral students, PUBHLT 2008 Public Health Roundtable Case Series. I am working with other faculty in the Department of Behavioral and Community Health Sciences on developing an introductory community development course titled Community Development Approaches to Public Health.

SERVICE

I am a member of the Allegheny County Health Department/Graduate School of Public Health collaboration steering committee and the Bridging the Gaps Community Health Internship advisory board, a program for health care to underserved populations of the University. My outside service focuses on health promotion and disease prevention at the community level. I am a member of the Washington County Health Partners, Minority Health Task Force, and the Clergy and Churches United Health and Wellness Partnership. I am a member of numerous professional organizations, including the Society for Public Health Education, Society for the Analysis of African American Public Health Issues, Society of Behavioral Medicine, and the American Public Health Association. I am a reviewer for several medical journals, including Family Medicine, Substance Abuse, and the Journal of the National Medical Association.

MOST RECENT PUBLICATIONS

  • Yoo S, Butler J, Elias T, Goodman RM (2009). The 6-step Model for Community Empowerment: Revisited in Public Housing Communities for Low-income Senior Citizens. Health Promotion Practice, 10(2), 262-275.

  • Brown N, Hulsey E, Wing Y, Hall A, Ramachandram S, Deluca M, Butler J, Burke J. Perspectives on a Community- based Course for Public Health Students. Health Promotion Practice, published 30 April 2008.
  • Butler J, Quill B, Potter MA. (2008) Perspectives on the Future of Academic Public Health Practice. Public Health Reports, 123(1): 102-105.
  • Carr Copeland V & Butler J. (2007). Reconceptualizing Access: Using a Cultural Competence Approach to Improving the Mental Health of African American Women. Social Work in Public Health, 23(2-3).

  • Carr Copeland V & Butler J (2008). Reconceptualizing access: A cultural competence approach to improving the mental health of African American women. In RL Bangs, EM Ricci, & LE Davis (Eds.) Racial Disparity in Mental Health Services: Why Race Matters. New York: The Haworth Press.


  • Jeffries SK, Choi, WS, Butler J, Harris KJ, Ahluwalia JS (2005). Strategies for recruiting African-American residents of public housing developments into a randomized controlled trial. Ethnicity and Disease, 15(4): 773-778.

  • Pulvers KM, Lee RE, Ahluwalia HK, Mayo MS, Fitzgibbon ML, Jeffries SK, Butler J, Hou Q, Ahluwalia JS (2004). Development of a culturally relevant body image instrument among urban African Americans. Obesity Research, 12(10): 1-11.

  • Born W, Greiner KA, Sylvia E, Butler J, Ahluwalia JS. (2004). Knowledge, attitudes and beliefs about end-of-life care among inner-city African Americans and Latino/Hispanic Americans. Journal of Palliative Medicine, 7(2): 247-256.

  • Okuyemi KS, Scheibmeir M, Butler J, Ahluwalia JS. (2003). Perceptions of Smoking among African American Light Smokers. Substance Abuse, 24(3): 191-193.

  • Butler J. (2003). Being there: An exploratory study of the fatherhood experiences and beliefs of African American males using an ecological approach. In MR Pierre (Ed.) A New Psychology of African American Men: A Critical Analysis (pp. 307-336). Westport, CT: Information Age Publishing, Inc.

  • Butler J, Okuyemi KS, Jean S, Nazir N, Ahluwalia JS, Resnicow K. (2002). Smoking Characteristics of a Homeless Population. Substance Abuse, 23(4): 223-231

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