Roswell Park Researcher Aims at Obesity in the Native American Community

In the early part of the 20th century, most people died of infectious diseases, with tuberculosis and influenza heading the list. But even as antibiotics, better hygiene and sanitation drove down those death rates, a new and largely preventable threat moved in: obesity. Today the top two causes of death in the U.S. are heart disease and cancer, with diabetes closely following, and obesity is strongly associated with all three.

Rodney Haring, PhD, LMSW, is working to change that trend, especially among Native Americans, who have higher-than-average rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease and stroke, and specific types of cancer. With an $86,000+ award from Roswell Park’s Cancer Center Support Grant, he’s creating a workplace program to educate Native Americans about maintaining a healthy weight to prevent the life-threatening diseases that obesity can cause. The idea, he explains, is to reach workers through Employee Assistance Programs, with employees taking the information home to their families. “When you reach the family, you reach the community.”

He notes that the project “has high relevance to other populations that are highly affected by obesity and cancer, such as African-American and Hispanic workforces, and even beyond the United States, to workforces in Canada and indigenous groups around the world.”

A member of Roswell Park’s Department of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences, Dr. Haring is also an enrolled member of the Seneca Nation of Indians (Beaver Clan) and lives on the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation. In the pilot phase of the obesity intervention program, he’s working with both the Seneca Nation and an organization in the City of Buffalo. “You’ll never see me in a white lab coat,” he adds. “I’m a researcher in the community, and the community is where we need to be.”