The Challenges of Measuring and Addressing Racism in the Context of Aging and Neurologic Diseases

Event



The Challenges of Measuring and Addressing Racism in the Context of Aging and Neurologic Diseases

Apr 7, 2025 at | McNeil Room 403 - PSC Commons

Series
Name
Assistant Professor
Columbia University
Name
Professor
University of Pennsylvania
Speaker Biographies

Paris Adkins-Jackson, PhD MPH is a multidisciplinary community-partnered health equity researcher and Assistant Professor in the Departments of Epidemiology and Sociomedical Sciences in the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Dr. AJ's research investigates the role of structural racism on healthy aging for historically marginalized populations like Black and Pacific Islander communities. Her primary project examines the role of life course adverse community-level policing exposure on psychological well-being, cognitive function, and biological aging for Black and Latinx/a/o older adults. Her secondary project tests the effectiveness of an anti-racist multilevel pre-intervention restorative program to increase community health and institutional trustworthiness through multisector community-engaged partnerships. Dr. AJ is an HBCU alumna of the psychometrics doctoral program at Morgan State University and a board member of the Society for the Analysis of African American Public Health Issues.

Dr. Derek Griffith is trained in psychology and public health, and his program of research focuses on developing anti-racism approaches to achieve racial, ethnic, and gender equity in health. According to Google Scholar, his work has been cited over 11,000 times (h-index of 51; i-10-index 129), and over 6,000 times since 2019 (h-index of 39; i-10-index 119). Dr. Griffith is a contributor to and co-editor of three books, and his fourth co-edited book - Racism: Science and Tools for the Public Health Professional, 2nd Edition will be published in October 2024. He has been the principal investigator of research grants from the American Cancer Society, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and several institutes within the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Griffith serves on the editorial boards of several public health and men’s health journals. Recently, he received a citation from the president of the American Psychological Association, “For his extraordinary leadership in addressing the impacts of racism on the health and well-being of the nation and specifically for African American and Latino men”.