Dr. Ford is the Associate Director of Population Sciences and Cancer Disparities and the Associate Director of Community Outreach and Engagement at the MUSC Hollings Cancer Center, where Dr. Raymond DuBois is the Director. Dr. Ford received her MSW, MS, PhD, and postdoctoral training at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI, where she was awarded pre- and post-doctoral fellowships from the National Institute on Aging. Subsequently, she held faculty positions at the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit, MI, and Baylor College of Medicine before coming to MUSC and the Hollings Cancer Center. Her training in the social determinants of health affecting disease and its treatment has uniquely positioned her to take a leading role in tackling a distressing and incompletely understood public health problem in the state: the fact that societal differences in the population can lead to markedly different health outcomes for members of diverse racial and ethnic groups.