Question: Who was involved in observing the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural African-American men in Alabama?

Passages:
Actinic keratosis (AK) is a pre-cancerous patch of thick, scaly, or crusty skin.  These growths are more common in fair-skinned people and those who are frequently in the sun.  They usually form when skin gets damaged by ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun or indoor tanning beds. AKs are considered potentially pre-cancerous; left untreated, they may turn into a type of cancer called Squamous cell skin cancer.  Untreated lesions have up to a 20% risk of progression to squamous cell carcinoma, so treatment by a dermatologist is recommended. John Charles Cutler (June 29, 1915 – February 8, 2003) was a senior surgeon, and the acting chief of the venereal disease program in the United States Public Health Service.  After his death, his involvement in several controversial and unethical medical studies of syphilis was revealed, including the Guatemala and the Tuskegee syphilis experiments. <P3-S0> The Calhoun Colored School (1892–1945) was a private boarding and day school in Calhoun, Lowndes County, Alabama, about 28 mi southwest of the capital of Montgomery. <P3-S1>  Founded in 1892 by Miss Charlotte Thorn and Miss Mabel Dillingham in partnership with Booker T. Washington of Tuskegee Institute, to provide education to rural black students, who comprised the majority in this area, the Calhoun Colored School was first designed to educate rural African-American students according to the industrial school model common at the time. Bobby William Austin (born December 29, 1944) is an American sociologist, lecturer, and writer.  He is a leading scholar on African-American men and boys and was the first person, as a Program Officer with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, to fund major philanthropic initiatives for African-American men and boys.  Over the past 30 years, in the fields of education, social policy, youth development, cultural theory, philanthropy and religion, he has created a series of structured venues as pathways for how citizens might live life in communities as individuals and as members of groups where peace, meaning, and innovation are nurtured.  He is currently President of the Neighborhood Associates Corporation and Managing Director of the EducationThinkTank. Dr. John Roderick 'Rod' Heller (born February 27, 1905, Fair Play, S.C., died May 4, 1989, Bethesda, Md., age 84, was the head in 1943-1948 of what was then called the "Venereal Disease" section of the United States Public Health Service (PHS).  He then became the director of the National Cancer Institute, and then president/chief executive officer of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.  He is best known for having been the assistant in charge of on-site medical operations in the Tuskegee syphilis study, a longitudinal clinical examination by PHS of untreated syphilis in U.S. African-American males.  Very serious questions of medical ethics have been raised about this study and those involved in it. Prostate-specific transcript 1 (non-protein coding), also known as PCGEM1, is a long non-coding RNA gene.  In humans, it is located on chromosome 2q32.  It is over-expressed in prostate cancer.  In a study of prostate tumours from 88 men, levels of PCGEM1 were found to be higher in prostate cancer cells in African-American men than in Caucasian-American men.  The mortality rate of prostate cancer is highest in African-American men. Neurosyphilis is an infection of the brain or spinal cord caused by the spirochete "Treponema pallidum".  It usually occurs in people who have had chronic, untreated syphilis, usually about 10 to 20 years after first infection and develops in about 25%–40% of persons who are not treated.  The United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advises that neurosyphilis can occur at any stage of a syphilis infection. Congenital syphilis is syphilis present "in utero" and at birth, and occurs when a child is born to a mother with syphilis.  Untreated early syphilis infections results in a high risk of poor pregnancy outcomes, including saddle nose, lower extremity abnormalities, miscarriages, premature births, stillbirths, or death in newborns.  Some infants with congenital syphilis have symptoms at birth, but many develop symptoms later.  Babies exposed "in utero" can have deformities, delays in development, or seizures along with many other problems such as rash, fever, an enlarged liver and spleen, anemia, and jaundice.  Newborns will typically not develop a primary syphilitic chancre, but may present with signs of secondary syphilis (i.e. generalized body rash).  Often these babies will develop syphilitic rhinitis ("snuffles"), the mucus from which is laden with the "T. pallidum" bacterium, and therefore highly infectious.  Rarely, the symptoms of syphilis go unseen in infants so that they develop the symptoms of latent syphilis, including damage to their bones, teeth, eyes, ears, and brain. The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, also known as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study or Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment ( ) was an infamous clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the U.S. Public Health Service.  The purpose of this study was to observe the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural African-American men in Alabama under the guise of receiving free health care from the United States government. <P1-S0> Natural Progression is a 2004 album by the Canadian hip hop group Sweatshop Union. <P1-S1>  Natural Progression established Sweatshop Union as a player in the conscious underground rap scene.

Supporting sentences:
The Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, also known as the Tuskegee Syphilis Study or Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment ( ) was an infamous clinical study conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the U.S. Public Health Service.  The purpose of this study was to observe the natural progression of untreated syphilis in rural African-American men in Alabama under the guise of receiving free health care from the United States government.