Pharmacy Professor Recognized with Community Engagement Award

The award recognizes outstanding accomplishments in community-engaged research, learning, service and engaged scholarship with a $5,000 award to further community engagement.

“I am very thankful for receiving this award that was truly a team effort,” Roper said. “It feels great to have all of our efforts acknowledged by the university and others working with communities.”

Roper won the award for her leadership in a community project, titled “Environmental Health in the Mississippi Delta,” which has sought to determine the level of environmental health literacy in the region.

“Determining the attitudes, behaviors and knowledge regarding the environmental health of the Mississippi Delta community members is critical, as increased environmental health literacy leads to improved overall health,” Roper said.

With a team consisting of members of the School of Pharmacy and the Delta community, by way of the Mississippi Delta Nature and Learning Center, Roper has helped conduct surveys and focus groups in the area over the past year.

More than 75 Delta community members have now completed the EHL survey. The School of Pharmacy group partnered with MDNLC to conduct the focus groups in Greenville and gather information about environmental concerns and interests and gain an overall environmental needs assessment.

From the data collected at these events, the pharmacy group collaborated with MDNLC to draft research strategies for funding applications that responded to the environmental concerns noted by focus group participants. They also created a one-page summary of the findings to distribute to the community.

“I’ve learned so much from the members of the Delta community about potential sources of environmental contamination as well as suggestions to improve the environment,” Roper said. “Our team as a whole has learned to work together and appreciate different perspectives and approaches to solving problems.”

The team’s long-term goal is to improve environmental health in the region, which will not only support overall improved health in the community but also serve as a model for other rural communities that are interested in improving their own environmental health.

“Changing the environment benefits humanity through improved health in a cleaner environment, the community partner, MDNLC, through supporting their organization’s mission of ‘caring for the earth and the people who live here,’ and the faculty, staff and students by creating tangible change from their research efforts,” Roper said.