Staff Biography

Mollie Howerton, Ph.D., M.P.H. Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities National Cancer Institute 6116 Executive Blvd., Suite 602 Rockville, MD 20852 phone: (301) 496-5833 fax: (301) 435-9225 email: mhower@mail.nih.gov

Mollie Howerton, Ph.D., M.P.H., is a Program Director in the Disparities Research Branch, Center to Reduce Cancer Health Disparities of the National Cancer Institute (NCI). In this role, Dr. Howerton works on initiatives related to disparities in clinical research such as the Patient Navigator Research Program and Clinical Trials accrual. Her responsibilities also include planning and developing a new geographically-based disparities research initiative as well as managing investigator-initiated grants and supplements.

Prior to her appointment at CRCHD, Dr. Howerton was an Instructor in Oncology at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. There, she served as a Project Director for the Cancer Prevention and Treatment Demonstration among Racial and Ethnic Minorities. Dr. Howerton’s work over the last 7 years has focused on accrual of medically underserved populations to cancer clinical trials as well as reducing cancer health disparities in Baltimore’s underserved populations.

Dr. Howerton received a B.S. and M.S. from Virginia Tech, an M.S. and Ph.D. from Indiana University-Bloomington, and an M.P.H. from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Additionally, Dr. Howerton received postdoctoral training in cancer prevention and control in the NCI Cancer Prevention Fellowship Program.

Bolen S, Tilburt J, Baffi C, Gary TL , Powe N, Howerton M, Ford J, Lai G, Wilson R, Bass E. Defining “Success” in recruitment of underrepresented populations to cancer clinical trials: Moving toward a more consistent approach. Cancer. 2006; 106(6); 1197-204.

Lai GY, Gary TL, Tilburt J, Bolen S, Baffi C, Wilson RF, Howerton MW, Gibbons MC, Tanpitukpongse TP, Powe NR, Bass EB, Ford JG. Effectiveness of strategies to recruit underrepresented populations into cancer clinical trials. Clinical Trials. 2006; 3(2): 133-141

Howerton MW, Gibbons MC, Baffi CR, Gary TL, Lai GY, Bolen S, Tilburt J, Tanpitukpongse TP, Wilson RF, Powe NR, Bass EB, Ford JG. Provider Roles in the recruitment of underrepresented populations to cancer clinical trials. Cancer. 2007; 109(3): 465-476.

Howerton MW, Bell BS, Dodd KW, Berrigan D, Stolzenberg-Solomon R, Nebeling N. School-Based Nutrition Programs Produced a Moderate Increase in Fruit & Vegetable Consumption: Meta and pooling analysis from 7 studies. JNEB. 2007; 39(4):186-96.

Tilburt J, Ford JG, Howerton MW, Gary TL, Lai GY, Bolen S, Baffi C, Wilson RF, Tanpitukpongse TP, Powe NR, Bass EB, Sugarman J. Applying Justice in Clinical Trials for Underrepresented Populations. Clinical Trials. 2007;4(3):264-9.

Tilburt J, Ford JG, Howerton MW, Gary TL, Lai GY, Bolen S, Baffi C, Wilson RF, Tanpitukpongse TP, Powe NR, Bass EB, Sugarman J. Clin Trials. 2007;4(3):271

Ford JG, Howerton MW, Lai GY, Gary TL, Bolen S, Gibbons MC, Tilburt J, Baffi C, Tanpitukpongse TP, Wilson RF, Powe NR, Bass EB. Recruiting Underrepresented Populations to Cancer Clinical Trials: A Systematic Review. Cancer. 2008; 112(2):228-42.

Ford JG, Howerton MW, Bolen S, Gary TL, Lai GY, Tilburt J, Gibbons MC, Baffi C, Wilson RF, Feuerstein CJ, Tanpitukpongse P, Powe NR, Bass EB. Evidence Report on Knowledge and Access to Information on Recruitment of Underrepresented Populations to Cancer Clinical Trials. Evidence Report/Technology Assessment No 05-E019-2. Prepared by the Johns Hopkins University Evidence-based Practice Center, Baltimore MD. June, 2005.

Ford JG, Howerton MW, Powe NR, Bass EB. (September 21, 2005). Evidence Report on Recruitment of Underrepresented Populations to Cancer Clinical Trials. Presented at the September 2005 National Cancer Advisory Board (NCAB) meeting, Bethesda, MD. Howerton MW. (April 3, 2006). Successful interventions to Recruit Minorities to Cancer Trials. Presented at the 97th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research, Washington, DC.

Howerton M (February 6, 2009). Interventions to Increase Accrual to Cancer Therapeutic Trials: What do we know? What do we need to know? Presented at the Second AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved, Carefree, AZ.

Howerton MW, Berrigan D, Stolzenberg-Solomon R, Bel, S, Dodd K, Nebeling L. (October 23, 2001). Meta-analysis of school-based nutrition programs that focus on increasing consumption of fruits and vegetables. Poster presented at the 129th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, Atlanta, Georgia.

Howerton MW, Zabora JR. (March 11, 2002). Community-based prostate cancer screening: Strategies for recruitment. Poster presented at the 26th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Preventive Oncology, Bethesda, Maryland.

Howerton M, Bone L, Shapiro G, Johnson L, Wenzel J, Callender G, Ford J. (March 9, 2009) Recruiting African American Older Adults to a Cancer Prevention Trial. Poster presented at the 33rd Annual American Society of Preventive Oncology meeting in Tampa, Florida.