ChicagoCHEC Early Career Faculty Member Accepted into the SBM Diversity Institute for Emerging Leaders


Jennifer Sanchez-Flack, PhD, MPH, and Natalicio Serrano, PhD, were accepted into the Society of Behavioral Medicine (SBM) 2022 Diversity Institute for Emerging Leaders. The SBM Diversity Institute for Emerging Leaders helps early‐career members from diverse backgrounds or those working with those from underrepresented populations develop into equitable and thoughtful leaders by fostering a deep understanding of the principles of diversity and inclusion.

Dr. Sanchez-Flack is a former postdoctoral fellow of the UIC Cancer Education and Career Development Program (CECDP) and a University of Illinois Cancer Center member. “The SBM Diversity Institute for Emerging Leaders will support me in providing my research team with training and tools to understand how to incorporate principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion into their own research careers and goals, and how to utilize equitable intervention approaches to improve Latinx and African American families health behaviors in multiple contexts to inform clinical and policy cancer inequities research,” said Dr. Sanchez-Flack on the institute’s impact on her research.

Dr. Serrano is a current UIC CECDP postdoctoral fellow. According to Dr. Serrano: “This opportunity will help me foster inclusion of diverse perspectives in my work by providing guidance in navigating conversations and engagement with the communities I will be working with and for in my research.” The UIC CECDP is a National Cancer Institute (NCI) funded T32 program that has prepared predoctoral and postdoctoral fellows to be successful independent investigators and professionals in cancer disparities research for more than two decades.  https://mailchi.mp/d1181160aed0/sbm-picks-uic-researchers-as-emerging-leaders?e=a06bff249f