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. 2014 Nov;104(11):2072–2075. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2013.301672

The Society for the Analysis of African-American Public Health Issues (SAAPHI)

Rebecca E Hasson 1, Diane L Rowley 1, Cheryl Blackmore Prince 1, Camara P Jones 1, William C Jenkins 1
PMCID: PMC4202962  PMID: 25295606

In 1990, a meeting jointly sponsored by the Black Caucus of Health Workers (BCHW), the American College of Epidemiology, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assessed the underlying causes of health status and health disparities, and whether these were the result of race or racism. From this meeting, a group of primarily African American public health researchers decided to focus on health disparities as an issue and proceeded to carry out a number of analyses that focused on the true etiologic factors for health disparities. A number of articles were published, and one organization was formed to carry on this work: Society for the Analysis for African-American Public Health Issues (SAAPHI). We document the events leading up to the formation of SAAPHI and the contributions that this society and its membership have made toward improving the overall health of African Americans in the United States.

THE JOURNEY TO ESTABLISH SAAPHI

The origins of SAAPHI can be traced back to 1971, when Jackie Kennedy, a biostatistician working at Howard University, invited a few young biostatisticians to lunch with two public health stalwarts: Paul Cornely, former medical director of Howard University School of Medicine Freedmen’s Hospital and the first African American president of the American Public Health Association (APHA), and Hildrus Poindexter, Captain in the US Public Health Service and former Head of the Community Medicine Department. The conversation centered on efforts made over the three previous decades to improve the health status of African Americans, including developing an African American public health infrastructure. These conversations continued on a weekly basis and gave birth to the idea of creating several entities to improve the health of African Americans: (1) an African American school of public health, (2) an institute to help develop public health scientists, and (3) professional organizations comprising African Americans in public health.

In the following years, the ideas continued to evolve and later became a reality through the establishment of the Coalition of Public Health Programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), which currently has Public Health Programs at nine HBCUs; and the Public Health Sciences Institute at Morehouse College, which has trained more than 300 students in epidemiology and biostatistics, and more than 50% of African American doctoral students in this field.

In 1985, the Report of the Secretary’s Task Force on Black & Minority Health, under the direction of Margaret Heckler, then Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was issued. The Task Force chair described this publication as a landmark effort in analyzing and synthesizing the present state of knowledge of the major factors that contributes to the health status of Blacks, Hispanics, Asian/Pacific Islanders, and Native Americans. It represented the first time the Department of Health and Human Services has consolidated minority health issues into one report. This report should serve not only as a standard resource for department wide strategy, but as the generating force for an accelerated national assault on the persistent health disparities. . . .

Margaret Heckler wrote that it was “the beginning of the end of the health disparity that has, for so long, cast a shadow on the otherwise splendid American track record of ever improving health.” An informal group of African American public health professionals, many of whom became founding members of SAAPHI, studied the findings from the report and committed to making health disparities a cornerstone of their work. They launched advocacy efforts to establish Offices of Minority Health in public health service agencies that would coordinate with the HHS Office of Minority Health established by Secretary Heckler.

Professional support for understanding and researching health disparities expanded as the result of a November 7-8, 1990, scientific meeting jointly sponsored by the BCHW, American College of Epidemiology, and Centers of Disease Control and Prevention to assess the underlying causes of racial health disparities, with several presentations focusing on racism.1-15 Over the next four years, a number of articles were published that examined the root causes of racial/ethnic health disparities,16-32 and SAAPHI was formed to carry on the work.

As the number of African Americans trained as biostatisticians, epidemiologists, and other public health scientists grew, many desired to gather with other public health practitioners to discuss concerns through a formal structure. As a result of informal talks with BCHW and members of several APHA sections, an ad hoc Executive Committee was formed in Atlanta on February 11, 1991, to begin establishing a research group interested in applying the public health sciences to the needs of the African American community. On May 8, 1991, the draft bylaws were prepared, and the name SAAPHI was chosen. As described in its bylaws, SAAPHI’s mission is to (1) develop databases for the understanding of health problems that exist in African American communities, (2) utilize scientific information on African Americans in program and policy decisions, (3) formulate appropriate public policies for health promotion and disease prevention among African Americans, and (4) facilitate professional development, social welfare, and leadership skills among its members.

On November 9-10, 1991, under the leadership of William Jenkins, the SAAPHI ad hoc committee hosted a conference in Atlanta, Georgia, after the 119th annual meeting of the APHA. This conference was held in the basement of the First Congregational Church. This was historically significant because the location of this formal beginning of SAAPHI was also the birthplace of the National Medical Association (1895), the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (1908), and the National Bar Association (1925), respectively.33-36 A business meeting was held to install the first officers, who included William Jenkins as President, Vickie Mays as Vice-President, Cheryl Blackmore Prince as Treasurer, and Michele Davis as Secretary. The following Standing committees were also seated: Robert Mayberry and Geraldine Perry as Program Chair and Co-Chair, respectively; Althea Smith as Communications Chair; Warren Hewitt as Forum Chair; and Janet Mitchell as Membership Chair. The SAAPHI founding members totaled 64 public health professionals, and the group agreed to become a related organization of the APHA.

SAAPHI ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Although SAAPHI maintained a close relationship with BCHW from its inception, SAAPHI took a two-pronged approach of (1) encouraging African Americans and those who were concerned about racial disparities in health to become more involved in shaping policy by seeking leadership roles in public health associations; and (2) continuing to conduct research on the etiologic factors that caused health disparities. Within four years of SAAPHI’s establishment, the first president of SAAPHI was elected to the Board of Directors of the American College of Epidemiology, became Chair of the Epidemiology Section of the American Statistical Association, and became a member of the Executive Board of APHA. For almost two decades, SAAPHI members have consistently served on the Executive Board of APHA; at one point some have chaired the Executive Board, and three members have served as APHA president. Additional accomplishments are listed in the box on the previous page.

Accomplishments of the Society for the Analysis for African-American Public Health Issues (SAAPHI)

SAAPHI drafted official policy documents on disparities and an Action Plan that formed the basis for the adoption of two resolutions as official American Public Health Association (APHA) policy (http://www.apha.org/advocacy/policy/policysearch/default.htm?id=211 [2001] and http://www.apha.org/advocacy/policy/policysearch/default.htm?id=246 [2002]).
SAAPHI members who served on the APHA Action Board created and sustained a Health Disparities Working Group of the Action Board for four years; prepared the health disparities section on the APHA Web site; developed a “Solutions” database for the elimination of health disparities and devoted the 2000 Public Health Week to the elimination of health disparities (2000).
Joined the Joint Policy Committee of the Societies of Epidemiology and participated on the planning committee of the First, Second, and Third North American Congress of Epidemiology (2001).
Recognized as a Non-Governmental Organization by the United Nations and invited to attend the 2001 World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance in Durban, South Africa. SAAPHI’s then President Camara Jones attended as a SAAPHI delegate (2001).
Secured its first grant from the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health to host a workshop entitled: “Setting a Strategic Direction for SAAPHI: Workforce Development, Public Health Practice and Research focused on African-Americans” (2006).
Instituted the annual SAAPHI Student Achievement Awards, where competitive monetary awards are presented to students for the best student presentations delivered at the annual SAAPHI meeting (2007).
In collaboration with the Department of Kinesiology at the University of Massachusetts, developed a teaching curriculum to educate students and faculty about health disparities in disease prevalence (2008).
Joined the National Salt Reduction Initiative to work with other health organizations and public agencies to achieve the goal of reducing population salt intake by at least 20% over five years by setting targets and monitoring progress through a transparent, public process (2008).
• Obtained nonprofit (501[c] 3) status (2010).
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Research conducted by SAAPHI members now spans many areas of medicine and public health, ranging from laboratory-based interventions, to statistical methods for comparing distributions, and to community-based participatory research. A few examples of this research are listed in the box on this page. SAAPHI members have also been instrumental in the development of community organizations designed to address public health issues in the African American community. SAAPHI continues to work to (1) become more effective in providing informational resources and support to improve the allocation of funds for identifying the social determinants of health, (2) provide increased support for the further development of African American institutions with similar goals of eliminating health disparities such as the development of public health programs in schools linked to HBCUs, and (3) maintain its efforts to secure leadership positions in organizations that shape public health policy. Social justice is the core ethic of SAAPHI, and with the continued growth and development of the organization, SAAPHI is poised to have an even greater impact in the 21st century as a premier research organization dedicated to examining racial health disparities. Moreover, SAAPHI will continue to expand its activities in human resource development, policy development, education, and community outreach to improve the health of African American communities in the United States.

Member Research of the Society for the Analysis for African-American Public Health Issues (SAAPHI)

Examined the use of critical race theory to conduct health equity research through the development of a public health critical race praxis.37,38
Used illustrations such as “The Gardner’s Tale” to describe racism and address the social determinants of health equity.39,40
Documented disparities in childhood obesity and designed behavioral interventions to improve metabolic health outcomes in African American youths.41,42
Examined the effects of nurse case managers and community health workers on diabetic control and health care utilization among urban African Americans.43
Examined the prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis among college students and reproductive and public health implications.44
Protected vulnerable populations from pandemic influenza in the United States.45
Engaged and mobilized community members to prevent obesity among adolescents.46
Used “socially assigned race” to probe White advantages in health status.47
Examined population differences in the patterns of preterm delivery.48
Developed statistical methods for the pairwise comparison of continuous distributions to facilitate the identification of population-level risk factors and the development of population-level interventions.49
Examined socioeconomic and sociocultural influences on type 2 diabetes risk in overweight or obese African American adolescents.50
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Acknowledgments

This work was partially supported by the US Department of Health and Human Services as a meeting entitled “Workforce Development of African-Americans in Public Health and Research Planning.” This meeting and project occurred in 2006.

We would like to acknowledge the helpful assistance and comments of SAAPHI members Sonja Hutchins, Patricia Thompson-Reid, Dorothy Stephens, and Chandra Ford. In addition, we would like to thank the founding members of SAAPHI for their commitment of time and effort to establish this Society and Ruth Cooke-Gibbs who transcribed the oral early history of SAAPHI.

Note. The findings and conclusions in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the funding organization.

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