Rhoda Moise-career speaker

As a child of two Haitian immigrants, born and raised in Philadelphia, Dr. Moise learned the value of resilience, education, and community from an early age. As a child she witnessed first hand the impact of chronic disease on the physiology and psychology of her family and community group, and the need for better education and access to healthcare.  From these experiences, Dr. Moise was motivated to participate in basic science summer fellowships to learn more about the role of science in society and community health.  As an undergraduate honors student at the Pennsylvania State University, she quickly developed an interdisciplinary interest in global health.  As an undergraduate scholar, she studied chronic disease knowledge, management, and prevention in the US and abroad including a Senegal, Philadelphia (Haitian immigrants), and Thailand.  Through engaging communities in mixed methodology and building capacity for health promotion and disease prevention across multi-level ecological determinants, Dr. Moise gained proficiency in community engagement, cultural competence, and systems thinking. In 2015, Dr. Moise graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biobehavioral Health with minors in Biology and Health Policy and Administration.  

In 2019, Rhoda Moise earned her PhD in Prevention Science and Community Health from the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine in Miami, Florida. During her graduate studies, Dr. Moise applied quantitative, geospatial, and qualitative analyses to explore healthcare access and decision making of groups of African ancestry in St. Marc, Haiti and Miami, Florida. From these studies, she uncovered individual, interpersonal, and institution factors predicting and preventing access to cancer screening. To expand her expertise in integrating molecular science with epidemiology, Dr. Moise joined Dr. Camille Ragin’s research group at Fox Chase Cancer Center (FCCC) to study “Extending a Caribbean Cohort to Promote US-Caribbean Comparisons to Address Black Health Disparities” in Jamaica. This project focuses on building data and biological samples from a Jamaican cohort to prepare for comparative studies with a U.S. based cohort in Philadelphia which includes U.S. born Blacks as well as Caribbean and African immigrants.

In her current role as a Postdoctoral Associate at (FCCC) in Cancer Prevention and Control department, Dr. Moise studies health disparities associated with cervical cancer affecting African ancestry subgroups (i.e. African-American, Afro-Caribbean, and African).  Of particular interest is understanding how the differing health beliefs, genetics, and behavior of these groups contributes to health inequity in the incidence and severity of cervical cancer from proteins to populations for health systems improvement. Her goal is to eliminate inequitable distribution of disease through prevention and control with innovative strategies to catalyze transformation of health systems with stakeholders including patients, providers, and payers at the intersection of science, health, and policy.

Beyond her role as scientist, Dr. Moise serves as a community healthcare advocate to raise awareness about the global inequities of healthcare access.  In this role, she coordinates community events promoting wellness through art and healthy lifestyle practices and educating attendees about important preventative medicine including cancer screening. Dr. Moise also merges a passion for science and art through hosting and sharing healing workshops applying ecological theory to lifestyle practices (e.g. gardening, dance, yoga, and soccer) in diverse settings including the U.S. (Philadelphia, PA and Miami, FL) as well as abroad (Haiti and Rwanda).