In Loving Memory of Glenda Sneed

Glenda Sneed was a larger-than-life force whose free spirit and brilliance allowed her to approach community health work in ways that were creative and remarkable. For over two decades, Glenda worked to develop community-based programs, workshops, and seminars promoting the health and well-being of young people, under-served adults and seniors, communities of color, working class, and other marginalized communities. Glenda had a gift for bonding with community members and building the kind of trust that transforms relationships between communities and institutions.

Glenda was a talented researcher, and while at the Karmanos Cancer Institute, at Wayne State University in Detroit, she coordinated the oversight of a component of breast and lung cancer projects. This work entailed interviewing patients and families for medical histories, generating family cancer histories using various software tools for data analysis, designing databases, and developing survey research and protocols for her collegiate team to identify susceptibility genes for familial lung cancer.

Glenda’s creativity and imagination are reflected in the range of projects and programs she helped create and grow during her many years at the University of Michigan Health System Program for Multicultural Health. These included developing empowerment programs for residents of low-income housing communities and marginalized youth; developing strategies to help reduce infant mortality for the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH);  training seniors, for whom English is a second language, on how to access online health information; organizing ballroom and hustle dance classes for the elementary school students to encourage more physical activity; and setting up support groups and social networks, which were designed to bring together in fellowship, women of color who were interested in achieving a healthier lifestyle, learning together and giving back.

Glenda also served as a preceptor and mentor for scores of students and young professionals over the years—work she took seriously, but not without fun and a sense of humor that lightened situations with everyone she interacted. Her belief in those she mentored was contagious and helped give mentees the tools and confidence they needed to realize their full potential.