Ronica Rooks

Associate Professor of Health and Behavioral Sciences

Ronica N. Rooks is an Associate 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 her Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Maryland at College Park and postdocs in Geriatric Epidemiology in the Intramural Laboratory of Epidemiology, Demography, and Biometry at the National Institute on Aging and Health Disparities in the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on social-ecological explanations for racial and ethnic disparities in chronic conditions. Her Fulbright Canada fellowship developed interdisciplinary networks in the social and health sciences to examine relationships between gentrification, social disadvantage (e.g., lower SES and racial/ethnic minority status), and prevalent CC and management among older adults in Hamilton, Ontario. She plans to similarly examine these relationships among older adults in Denver, Colorado. Her other research focuses on facilitating aging in community through “time-banking,” to build social capital and promote health across varied socioeconomic status communities. She is a Fellow of the Gerontological Society of America and serves as chair for the Minority Issues in Gerontology Advisory Panel and on the Diversity and Justice working group.