Rebecca Miller, MPH, MS is a Cleveland, OH native who garnered much of her passion for education in early life. Being a woman of color brought a unique perspective to her worldview, as seeing those in her community suffer from preventable diseases often sparked complex questioning of societal systems. Starting out her career in chemical and biological hazard communication, Rebecca quickly learned how improper communication could cost someone their life or a limb. In her Master of Public Health and Master of Science in Nutrition programs, Rebecca often questioned the status quo, especially for that which was to the detriment of minoritized populations. Equipped with the zeal necessary to find a solution, she designed her MPH Practicum and Capstone project, a health education and communication training for health professional students centered on reducing disparities in African American patient populations with the idea that patients are learners. Using seminal and emerging bodies of evidence, she created a training that put the learners at the center of the content and learning activities. Additionally, the trainees will gain an appreciation for neurodiversity within their future patient populations and learn skills on how to adapt their language, presentation of information, and documentation to fit the learner (patient). With support and expectation, Rebecca is crafting the final elements of her training before piloting it with students and community members. After obtaining her MS and MPH, Rebecca transitioned into a new role as the Project Director of The Cleveland African American Prostate Cancer Project (CAAPP) at the Case Comprehensive Cancer Center of Case Western Reserve University. In her work with the CAAPP project, she serves as a bridge between community members, researchers, clinicians, and institutional partners in order to provide the educational and care-centered resources required to get men screened for prostate cancer. In culmination of the work mentioned above, Rebecca has acquired a rich background in universal design for learning, health literacy, and curricular design.
