Dr. Mark Schultz (left) of UNC-G and Amber Johnson with presentation poster.
to Amber J. Johnson, a WSSU 2006 Psychology major and now a social research specialist in the WSSU Center of Excellence for the Elimination of Health Disparities, on her May presentation to the UNC-G Public Health Education Poster Session. Her poster presentation was titled “Spatial Analysis of Select Factors that Contribute to Health Disparities in Forsyth County”. The poster, created with the help of Tim Mulrooney of the WSSU Center for Community Safety and consisted of spatial maps that compared certain factors of the built environment as they relate to the spatial distribution of minorities in Forsyth county. Factors included: location of fast food restaurants, grocery stores, ABC and convenience stores, available parking space, and available health care facilities. ABC and convenience stores were found to be centrally located in areas with a high percentages of minorities. Her research indicated that only two grocery stores were located in East Winston, a primarily black neighborhood. She concluded that these factors could be implicated in the development and sustainment of health disparities in Forsyth County. Johnson earned a master’s degree in Public Health from UNC-G in 2010.