Dr. Karriem S. Watson, DHSc, MS, MPH is a Senior Research Scientist with the University of Illinois Cancer Center and the Director of Community Engaged Research for the UI Cancer Center at UIC and the Mile Square Health Center, a group of Federally Qualified Health Clinics (FQHCs) affiliated with the University of Illinois Hospital and Health Sciences System.

 

Dr. Watson has a Doctorate in Health Science in Global Health and a Master of Science in Basic Medical Research and a Master’s in Public Health in Community Health Sciences. Dr. Watson’s work has resulted in the creation of community based cancer screening, prevention and navigation programs for breast, lung, colorectal, cervical and prostate cancer. His work to support community based breast cancer screening and navigation afforded him recognition by the Metropolitan Chicago Breast Cancer Task Force as a “Community Champion”. He is a faculty member at the UIC School of Public Health in the Division of Community Health Sciences and is an Adjunct Faculty at DePaul and Northwestern University.

 

Dr. Watson is also the Core Co-Lead of the Community Engagement Core for a 5 year NCI funded multi- institutional grant with the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center at Northwestern University, the University of Illinois Cancer Center and Northeastern Illinois University to address cancer disparities in Chicago, he also serves as Co-Investigator for a 4 year NCI funded grant to develop a partnership with the UI Cancer Center and Governors State University to increase the number of faculty and students from underserved communities who engage in cancer disparities research.

 

Dr. Watson is also a Co-Investigator of the Illinois Precision Medicine Consortium that was funded by the NIH Precision Medicine Initiative, now called the All of Us Initiative and a newly awarded NIMHD Center of Excellence in Health Disparities at UIC.