Susan J. Schumacher, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, presented a paper titled "The Use of Alternative Therapies to Lower Blood Pressure in Older African Americans" at the 1st Annual Meeting of the Society for Spirituality, Theology and Health. The meeting was held at Duke University’s R. David Thomas Executive Conference Center in Duke Fuqua School of Business in Durham, N.C.

The focus of the international meeting was "Spirituality, Health, and Human Flourishing: Meaning? Measurement? Implications?" It was sponsored by Duke University School of Medicine and the Center for Spirituality, Theology, and Health at the Duke University Medical Center.

Schumacher is head of the Hypertension Research Center at N.C. A&T that is funded by a Research Infrastructure in Minority Institutions (RIMI) grant from the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NCMHD) at the National Institutes of Health as part of the program larger program, Building Genetic Research at North Carolina A&T State University/Reducing Hypertension in the Older African American Population by Alternative Therapies.