Danetta Hendricks Sloan

Danetta Hendricks Sloan, PhD, MSW, MA, serves as an Associate Research Professor at Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health with primary affiliation in the Department of Health, Behavior and Society and joint appointment in Health Policy and Management. Her work centers on community-based interventions to reduce health inequities in palliative and end-of-life care, particularly through partnerships with the Black Church.

Educational background includes:

• PhD from Catholic University of America (2014)
• MSW from Catholic University of America (2007)
• MA from Towson University (2003)
• BS from Towson University (2001)

Sloan identifies as a Social Work Scientist with specialized expertise in improving healthcare equity for aging Black Americans. Trained as an oncology social worker with 10 years of palliative/hospice care experience, her research employs participatory methodologies to strengthen community capacity for early palliative care access among populations facing life-limiting illnesses like dementia. Her signature approach integrates spirituality and advance care planning within Black Church contexts, addressing critical gaps in culturally competent end-of-life care.

Analysis of her 37+ publications (2007-2025) reveals consistent focus on advance care planning implementation in marginalized communities, faith-based intervention development, and dementia care equity. Recent work emphasizes simulation-based fidelity assessment, Black caregiver experiences in hospice, and national palliative care research priorities through interdisciplinary consensus-building.

Award highlights:

• NIA K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award (2022)
• NIH Dementia Palliative Care Training Program (2023)
• Alzheimer's RCMAR Award (2023)
• Cambia Health Sojourn Scholar Leadership Award (2019)
• American Academy of Hospice & Palliative Medicine Kathleen Foley Scholar (2016)

Sloan leads NIH-funded initiatives including the NIA K01 project and NIH RCMAR program, focusing on community-engaged palliative care research. Her work bridges academic research with Black Church partnerships to develop culturally resonant advance care planning tools. Current projects include pragmatic clinical trials for implementation fidelity assessment and experience-based co-design with resident physicians for goals-of-care communication training.

Through the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions, Sloan directs community-academic partnerships that leverage church infrastructure for health promotion, creating sustainable models for end-of-life care equity in underserved populations.