Dr. Fouad is a Professor in the UAB Division of Preventive Medicine, Director of the UAB Minority Health and Research Center, and Senior Scientist in the Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Center for Aging at UAB.

Dr. Fouad is the Principal Investigator on numerous federal grants that bring to UAB over 40 million dollars plus 18 million in other grants where she is co-principal investigator. Most of these grants carry a common theme of improving health and preventing disease for minorities. She is the PI for the UAB Minority Screening Center of the NCI-funded “Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, Ovarian Cancer (PLCO) Screening Trial” and the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST). She is also the PI for the CDC-funded project entitled, “Racial and Ethnic Approaches to Community Health by the Year 2010” and the Avon Foundation Breast Cancer Patient Navigation Project. These projects rely heavily on the active participation of the community through the establishment of community volunteers’ networks to improve health in the community. For example, the Community Health Advisor (CHA) model trains lay individuals in health promotion, disease prevention, the adoption of healthy behaviors, and the development of community resources towards improved health and decreased disparities. Through Dr. Fouad’s leadership, hundreds of CHAs, mostly but not exclusively older African-American women, have been trained to become advocates for health, and healthcare system navigators to eliminate health disparities in their communities.

Dr. Fouad also has played a prominent leadership role in the merging of efforts of UAB and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to train minority researchers and leaders in the national effort to eliminate health disparities. Through formalized agreements and federally funded efforts, Dr. Fouad leads partnerships with Tuskegee University, Morehouse School of Medicine and multiple other HBCUs in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. Through these efforts, as well as by generously devoting time to trainees that she personally and successfully mentors, Dr. Fouad is making an enormous contribution to the next generation of leaders in the fight against health disparities.

Dr. Fouad’s long-standing efforts have been recognized nationally by receiving the American Medical Association’s (AMA) award in, 2005 in “Recognition of Excellence in Eliminating Health Disparities Award", and the Association of Academic Health Centers (AHC) Sullivan Best Practice Award in recognition of outstanding work to reduce health disparities in the United States, October 2004. She was also recognized by receiving the 2004 Odessa Woolfolk Community Service Award, April 2004. Ms. Woolfolk in one of the main founders of the Birmingham Civil Right Institute. In 2004, Dr. Fouad was appointed by the Governor of the State of Alabama to co-chair the Black Belt Action Commission (BBAC) Health Initiative.

Dr. Fouad is the founding Director of the Minority Health and Research Center, a developmental interdisciplinary campus-wide Center. This Center has Community Outreach as one of its major emphases and represents yet another milestone in a career that has a pioneering quality of combining traditional academic pursuits (research and education) with a major dedication to community service.

Through this work, Dr. Fouad has developed a strong interest in minority health specifically in the area of health disparities.

Research Interests

Health disparities research with emphasis on cancer prevention and control

Educational Background

University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Public Health, MPH, 1986
Alexandria University School of Medicine, Alexandria, Egypt, MD, 1977

Professional Activities

2005 - Present, Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR) (formerly the Association of Teachers of Preventive Medicine (ATPM)
2004 - Present, International Society of Preventive Oncology (ISPO)
2004 - Present, American Society of Preventive Oncology (ASPO)
2001 - Present, American Public Health Association (APHA)
1999 - Present, International Society on Hypertension in Blacks, Inc. (ISHIB)
1998 - Present, American Association for Cancer Education (AACE)
1990 - Present, American Heart Association (AHA)
1988 - Present, Association of Black Cardiologists (ABC)

Selected Recent Publications

Fouad MN, Partridge E, Green BL, Kohler C, Wynn T, Nagy S, Churchill S: Minority recruitment in clinical trials: a conference at Tuskegee, researchers and the community. Annals of Epidemiology 10(8 Suppl):S35-S40, 2000.

Fouad MN, Partridge E, Wynn T, Green BL, Kohler C, Nagy S. Statewide Tuskegee Alliance For Clinical Trials: A community coalition to enhance minority participation in research. Cancer 91(1 Suppl):237-241, 2001.

Fouad M, Funkhouser E, May D, Partridge E, Kiefe C: Physicians Variability in Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Practices within Same Clinics. Clinical Journal of Womens Health 1(2):59-68, 2001.

Johnson RE, Williams RD, Nagy CM, Fouad MN: Retention of under-served women in clinical trials: A focus group study. Ethnicity and Disease 13(2):268-278, 2003.

Fouad MN, Corbie-Smith G, Curb D, Howard BV, Mouton C, Simon M, Talavera G, Thompson J, Wang CY, White C, Young R. Special populations recruitment for the Women's Health Initiative: successes and limitations. Controlled Clinical Trials 25:335-352, 2004.

Fouad MN, Mayo CP, Funkhouser EM, Hall HI, Urban DA, Kiefe CI. Comorbidity independently predicted death in older prostate cancer patients, more of whom died with than from their disease. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology, 2004;57(7):720-728.

Fouad MN, Nagy C, Johnson RE, Wynn TA, Partridge EE, Dignan M. The development of a community action plan to reduce breast and cervical cancer disparities between African-American and white women. Ethnicity and Disease, 2004:14(suppl 1):S1-54-S1-62.

Fouad M, Partridge E, Dignan M, Holt C, Johnson R, Nagy C, Parham G, Person S, Scarinci I, Wynn T. A community-driven action plan to eliminate breast and cervical cancer disparity: successes and limitations. Journal of Cancer Education, 2006;21(Suppl.):S91-100.

Worthington J, Waterbor JW, Funkhouser EM, Falkson C, Cofield S, Fouad M. Receipt of standard breast cancer treatment by African American and white women. International Journal of Medical Sciences, 2008;5(4):181-88.

Worthington JL, Funkhouser E, Waterbor JW, Falkson C, Cofield S, Fouad M. Accuracy of registry breast cancer treatment data among cases treated in urban hospitals. Journal of Registry Management, 2008;35(2):75-80.

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