Directors

The Ethnic & Rural Health Disparities (ERHD) Team consists of the Director Dr. Eric Bailey and Co-Director Dr. Justin Moore.

Eric J. Bailey, Director

Eric J. Bailey, Ph.D., M.P.H. is a cultural and medical anthropologist, professor, author and Director of the Ethnic and Rural Health Disparities (ERHD) Graduate Certificate Online Program (https://erhd.ecu.edu) at East Carolina University in the Departments of Public Health and Anthropology. At East Carolina University, Dr. Bailey teaches undergraduate courses in the Department of Anthropology and graduate courses in the Department of Public Health. He is a joint-appointed Full Professor at ECU. For the ERHD Graduate Certificate Online program, Dr. Bailey teaches all the ERHD courses.

Before his arrival at East Carolina University, Dr. Bailey was a Program Director for the Masters’ of Public Health Program in Urban Public Health at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (Los Angeles, CA). Dr. Bailey developed and organized the new Masters’ of Public Health Program in Urban Public Health at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science (2004-2005).

Before his arrival at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science, Dr. Bailey was Health Scientist Administrator and Program Director at the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes of Health (Bethesda, MD). He administered, organized and coordinated the major Minority-Serving Institution Annual and Performance Reports to the White House for the Center. Before his arrival at the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD), Dr. Bailey was a Program Director for the Comprehensive Minority Biomedical Branch (CMBB) at the National Cancer Institute, NIH (1999-2004).

Before his arrival at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Dr. Bailey spent one year as a Senior Research Associate at the Arkansas Cancer Research Center (ACRC) of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (Little Rock, AR). He provided his expertise on several grant projects addressing the multicultural and multiethnic cancer outreach initiatives specifically for African American women and men in the state of Arkansas (1998-1999).

Dr. Bailey was also an Associate (tenured) and Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Indiana University, Indianapolis for nine years and an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Houston for two years. Dr. Bailey received his doctorate in anthropology from Wayne State University (Detroit, MI) and Master’s in Public Health from Emory University (Atlanta, GA). Dr. Bailey also received degrees (B.A. and M.A.) in anthropology from Miami University (Oxford, OH). In addition to Dr. Bailey’s experience in public health and as a medical anthropologist, Dr. Bailey completed post-doctoral work at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Atlanta, GA) where he worked in the Tuberculosis Division and the Associate Director’s Office for Minority Health (1993-1995).

Dr. Bailey has broad-based research experience in several chronic diseases including hypertension, obesity, diabetes, prenatal care, cancer, alternative medicine, HIV/AIDS and has published research findings in scholarly journals and lectured for the past 30 years on issues related to medical anthropology, multicultural and multiethnic health care utilization, alternative medicine, and community health and cross cultural health programs.

Currently, Dr. Bailey has published eight scholarly books. Here is a brief overview of his books:

Dr. Bailey’s (2018) most recent book, “Race and Ethnic Relations on Campus: Understanding, Empowerment, and Solutions for College Students,” confronts commonplace race relations issues directly and sets forth a completely different way of addressing these problems that empowers today’s college students to take charge and start to effect change – to do something about racially charged conflict rather than to simply talk about it.

Dr. Bailey’s (2013) “The New Face of America: How the Emerging Multiracial, Multiethnic Majority is Changing the United States” book examined multiracial families in America, at interracial relationships, at rural and urban multiracial populations, and at multiracial physical features, health disparities, bone and marrow transplant issues, adoption matters, as well as multiracial issues in other countries.

Dr. Bailey’s (2010), “The Cultural Rights Movement: Fulfilling the Promise of Civil Rights for African Americans” book took an in-depth look at the Obama administration’s proposed initiatives as they relate to the African American community and a survey of civil rights issues that need to be reexamined in light of Obama’s election.

Dr. Bailey’s (2008), “Black America, Body Beautiful: How the African American Image is Changing Fashion, Fitness and other Industries” book explained the major reasons why African Americans have a particular preference for certain body images, body types and standard of beauty as well as to show how much each of these areas have changed mainstream America’s preferred standards as it relates to body images, body types and beauty.

Dr. Bailey’s (2006), “Food Choice and Obesity in Black America: Creating a New Cultural Diet” book was a ground-breaking book which offered a new “cultural” diet for African Americans and a prescription for working collectively not only to understand this critical health issue but also established a lifestyle strategy that will be both effective and manageable.

Dr. Bailey’s (2002), “African American Alternative Medicine: Using Alternative Medicine to Prevent and Control Chronic Diseases” book rediscovered the unique preventing and healing qualities of African American alternative medicine. It is teaching text and resource guide for students, health care professionals, health care researchers, health care policy makers, and the general public that examines alternative medical belief systems and practices from an African American perspective.

Dr. Bailey’s (2000), “Medical Anthropology and African American Health” book examined data on mortality, census, preventive health, alternative medical practices, clinical research, and intervention from a comprehensive perspective. His new approach emphasized culture and cultural relativism as they both related to African American health care issues. This book also included several of his applied medical anthropological fieldwork projects conducted in clinical, community, and public health settings in different cities in the United States.

Dr. Bailey’s (1991), “Urban African American Health Care” first book suggested that research on the relationship between cultural health beliefs and health seeking may assist in explaining the patterns of health care for some populations. This book highlighted his applied medical anthropological fieldwork project in Detroit, Michigan.

Dr. Bailey’s professional blog: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericjbailey/

Dr. Bailey’s Course Happenings blog at ECU: https://people.ecu.edu/baileye

Dr. Bailey’s Published Books: https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/search?q=Eric%20Bailey

Justin B. Moore, Co-Director

Justin B. Moore, PhD, MS is a behavioral scientist, Co-Director of the ERHD program, and a member of the ERHD Admissions Committee.

Dr. Moore is currently a Professor & Vice-chair in the Department of Implementation Science in the Division of Public Health Sciences in the Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC. He also serves as Director for Dissemination, Implementation, and Continuous Quality Improvement for the Clinical and Translational Science Institute pf Wake Forest University. Dr. Moore has previously worked as a faculty member in the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina, the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University in the Department of Public Health, and the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Louisville.

Dr. Moore graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in health education (health behavior) from the University of Texas, Austin, a Master of Science (MS) in exercise science from the University of Mississippi, and a Bachelor of Science (BS) in kinesiology from Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi. While attending the University of Mississippi, Dr. Moore received a minority graduate fellowship, as he traces his ancestry to the Eastern Band of Cherokee in North Carolina.

Dr. Moore has published more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals on a variety of public health topics such as the promotion of physical activity and healthy eating to the implementation of interventions to promote healthy behaviors in rural communities. Dr. Moore has received more than 5 million dollars in external funding as a principal investigator from organizations such as the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Duke Endowment, and the de Beaumont Foundation. You can learn more about Dr. Moore on his website, LinkedIn, or you can follow him on X (formerly Twitter) or Instagram.