Cherie Conley , Ph.D., MSN, BSN, MIS, MHS, BS


Assistant Professor
Department of Systems, Populations and Leadership
3184 NURS1

University of Michigan School of Nursing
400 North Ingalls Building
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5482

Telephone: (734) 763-1614

Interests

  • Diabetes risk reduction
  • Implementation and dissemination science
  • Peer support
  • Community health promotion
  • Health equity and social determinants

Dr. Conley’s program of research focuses on health equity, asset focused, sustainable community health interventions, and upstream determinants of health. She has experience conducting community engaged research with faith communities and hair salons, working with health department coalitions, and, most recently, hospitals partnering with communities to improve health. She has used multimethod, quantitative and qualitative approaches for study design and analysis.

More specifically, Dr. Conley uses an assets-based approach to diabetes risk prevention in communities experiencing health inequities. During her doctoral studies, she conducted a feasibility study to leverage dyadic peer support and religious social capital to augment an existing healthy lifestyle promotion program. While serving as a University of Michigan National Clinician Postdoctoral Scholar, Dr. Conley expanded her research to explore systems that affect upstream determinants of equity and community health. She used secondary quantitative data analysis to understand how nonprofit hospitals integrate equity into their community benefit programs. Dr. Conley’s active projects focus on how hospitals address social determinants of health outside of community benefit programs. Her current proposed projects and grants use peer support to improve diabetes prevention program delivery in medically underserved African American communities.

Current Research Grants and Programs

  • The Role of Hospitals in Addressing Social Determinants of Health in High-Need Communities, University of Michigan School of Public Health with Dr. Simone Singh (Role: Co-Investigator)
  • Beyond Community Benefit: Unveiling Hospitals' Comprehensive Efforts to Improve Community Health, University of Michigan School of Public Health with Dr. Simone Singh (Role: Co-PI)

Teaching

Dr. Conley’s mission as a teacher and mentor is two-fold. First, to make sure that students feel and know that they belong in nursing and are confident in their abilities. Second, to provide applied learning experiences that center nursing’s person-place-environment framework as the context for understanding and improving health. She recently completed a College Teaching in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) course to learn and practice different approaches to equitably engaging students and supporting their success. Dr. Conley teaches in the undergraduate program with a focus on population health.

Affiliations / Service

  • National Clinician Scholar Program Recruitment and Outreach Committee, University of Michigan Student Representative, 2022
  • University of Michigan Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation Community Engaged Research Workgroup, 2022
  • Dissemination and Incubation Working Group, University of Michigan, 2021-2022
  • Social Contributors to Health Research Group, Duke University School of Nursing, 2019-2020
  • Community Health Improvement Program, Duke University Student Representative - School of Nursing, 2017-2020

Notable Awards / Honors

  • Junior Investigator Award, American Public Health Association, 2020
  • Distinguished Dissertation Award, Duke University, 2020
  • Dean's Award for Excellence in Mentoring, Duke University, 2020
  • Jonas Scholar, 2016-2020
  • Sigma Theta Tau National Honor Society for Nursing, 2005 (induction)

Education

  • PhD, Duke University, Durham, NC 2020
  • MSN, University of North Carolina - Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 2013
  • BSN, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH 2005
  • MHS, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 1999
  • BS, Spelman College, Atlanta, GA 1996

Publication Highlights

  • Johnson, R., Conley, C., Jeter, E., & Randolph, S. (2023). PrEP-aring stylists: Development of a stylist educational workshop to increase PrEP awareness and knowledge among Black women in the US south. Public Health Nursing, 41(1), 57-66. https://doi.org/10.1111/phn.13253.

  • Singh, S. & Conley, C. (2023). Inclusion of health equity initiatives in hospitals' strategic plans. Health Equity, 7(1), 753-760.

  • Conley, C., Randolph, S., Hardison-Moody, A., Gonzalez-Guarda, R., Fisher, E. B., & Lipkus, I. (2023). Feasibility of dyadic peer support to augment a church-based healthy lifestyle programme. Health Education Journal, 82(7).  https://doi.org/10.1177/00178969231185652.

  • Conley, C., Hardison-Moody, A., Randolph, S., Gonzalez-Guarda, R., Fisher, E. B. & Lipkus, I. (2023). Dyadic peer support to improve diet and physical activity among African American church members: An exploratory study. Journal of Religion and Health, 62(4), 2609-2626. doi: 10.1007/s10943-023-01743-5.

  • Conley, C., Rock, R., Lenhart, M. & Singh, S. (2022). Characteristics of US nonprofil hospitals using equity as a guiding framework for developing their community health needs assessments and implementation strategies. Journal of Public Health, 31, 2029-2037. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-022-01771-7.

  • Singh, S. R., Cronin, C. E., Conley, C., Lenhart, M. & Franz, B. (2022). Equity as a guiding theme in hospitals' community health needs assessments. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 64(1), 26–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2022.07.013.

  • Conley, C., Johnson, R., Bond, K., Brem, S., Salas, J., & Randolph, S. (2022). US black women and PrEP for HIV prevention: A scoping review. Women’s Health. (London, England), 18, 17455057221103098. https://doi.org/10.1177/17455057221103098.