Renee Cadzow, PhD, joined the Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health in 2024 as an assistant professor in the Division of Health Services Policy and Practice. She previously was faculty and chair in D’Youville University’s Department of Health Administration and Public Health. She also served as the Associate Director for the  D'Youville Center for Doctoral Studies and Research.

She has nearly 20 years of experience researching health disparities through an anthropological lens in the Western New York region on topics ranging from maternal/child health to chronic disease management. Supported by local, state, and federal grant mechanisms, this mixed methods research and evaluation prioritizes active community participation and relevance. 

Currently, she is working on three research teams: studying strategies to increase live kidney transplantation knowledge and access among African American patients with kidney disease, supporting community engagement to learn about early signs of dementia and the benefits of clinical trials to mitigate cognitive decline, and increasing the representation of special populations in clinical and behavioral research to improve regional health and reduce health disparities. She is also actively involved in the training and evaluation of community health workers as part of a HRSA CHW training grant. Future research directions will focus on community health worker program implementation and outcomes assessment.

• PhD, anthropology, State University of New York at Buffalo, 2008
• MA, anthropology, State University of New York at Buffalo, 2004
• BA, anthropology and comparative religion, Miami University, Oxford, OH, 1998