Title: Professor
Institution: University of Colorado – Denver
Address: 3023C North Classroom, P.O. Box 173364, CB 188, Denver, Colorado 80217-3364
Email: ronica.rooks@ucdenver.edu
Phone: (720) 496-6976
Visit Ronica’s Research Website
Research Interests: race or ethnicity, health disparities, chronic conditions, aging or gerontology, social epidemiology, socioeconomic status, mild cognitive impairment, community-engaged research
Biographical Sketch:
Ronica N. Rooks is a Professor in the Department of Health and Behavioral Sciences and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ Director of Online Education at the University of Colorado Denver. She completed postdoctoral fellowships in health disparities at the University of Michigan and geriatric epidemiology at the National Institute on Aging. She has a Ph.D. in sociology, focused on social demography and social inequalities, from the University of Maryland at College Park. Her research focuses on social-ecological explanations for racial and ethnic disparities in chronic conditions. Her current research explores if working and volunteering, as productive activities, can mitigate Black vs. White racial disparities in dementia and cognitive changes over time among older adults in the longitudinal Health, Aging, and Body Composition Study. She also examines mental distress associated with employment or job cessation perceptions and experiences of older adults with mild cognitive impairment or early-stage dementia, if they vary by race/ethnicity, and how these issues impact their cognitive functioning over time. Finally, she examines the relationship between gentrification and older adults’ quality of life (e.g., mental and physical health and well-being), based on interviews and focus groups with older adults and service providers in Denver, Colorado. She is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) and serves on the GSA’s Program, Publications, and Products Committee, the Colorado Commission on Aging, the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Action Coalition (ADRDAC) with the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, the Partnerships for Academicians and Communities for Translation (PACT) in Colorado, and the executive board for AgeWise Colorado.
Education:
Postdoc in Health Disparities from the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI), granted 2003
Postdoc in Geriatric Epidemiology from the National Institute on Aging (Bethesda, MD), granted 2001
PhD in Sociology from the University of Maryland at College Park (College Park, MD), granted 1999
MA in Sociology from the University of Maryland at College Park (College Park, MD), granted 1995
BA in Sociology/Anthropology and Economics from Saint Mary's College of Maryland (Saint Mary's City, MD), granted 1992