Ronica Rooks

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 and Health and Retirement 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 and serves on 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, the Older Workers Policy Collaborative, and the executive board for AgeWise Colorado.

Ph.D. - Sociology, University of Maryland College Park (1999)

M.A. - Sociology, University of Maryland College Park (1995)

B.A. - Economics and Sociology/Anthropology, Saint Mary's College of Maryland (1992)

Breaux, Becky and Ronica N. Rooks. 2022. “The Intersectional Importance of Race/Ethnicity, Disability, and Age in Flu Vaccine Uptake for U.S. Adults.” Social Science & Medicine: Population Health. 19, 101211, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101211 

Mathis, Arlesia and Ronica Rooks. 2022. “Geographic Differences in Vaccine Hesitancy among Older Adults.” Public Policy & Aging Report special issue on COVID Recovery. prac019, https://doi.org/10.1093/ppar/prac019 

Bentley, Kelly, Deborah Fortune, Ronica Rooks, and Gayle Walter. 2021. “Anti-Racism and the Pursuit of Social Justice.” Pedagogy in Health Promotion, 7, 4, 296-298. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/23733799211054402 

Mathis, Arlesia, Ronica N. Rooks, and Jacqueline Wiltshire. 2021. “Use of Health Information Varies by Region Among Older Adults in the U.S.” Gerontology & Geriatric Medicine, 7, 1-9. DOI: 10.1177/2333721421997192 

Hall, Tristen, Ronica Rooks, and Carol Kaufman. 2020. “Intersections of Adverse Childhood Experiences, Race and Ethnicity and Asthma Outcomes: Findings from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System.” International Journal for Environmental Research and Public Health, 17, 8236. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17218236 

Rooks, Ronica N., Craig G. Kapral, and Arlesia L. Mathis. 2019. “Chronic Conditions May Be More Important than Race/Ethnicity in Relation to Health Information Seeking and Use.” Journal of Aging and Health, 31, 4, 611-630. doi: 10.1177/0898264317744643 (Epublished online in Dec. 2017) 

ETST/PBHL 3002 Ethnicity, Health, and Social Justice (fall 2022 - online, expected fall 2023 - online)
PBHL 3030 Health Policy (spring 2021 - remote, expected spring 2023 - remote)
PBHL/SOCY 4040 Social Determinants of Health (fall 2020 - online)