Professor Derek Griffith
Black American
Author of over 140 peer-reviewed manuscripts, Dr. Griffith serves on the editorial boards of the American Journal of Men’s Health, Ethnicity & Disease, Health Education & Behavior, the International Journal of Men’s Social and Community Health, Psychology of Men and Masculinities, and Public Health Reports. He has received three noteworthy honors:
(a) Tom Bruce Award from the Community-Based Public Health Caucus of the American Public Health Association in recognition of his research on “eliminating health disparities that vary by race, ethnicity and gender”
(b) he was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Health Behavior for his significant contributions to the field of health behavior research, and
(c) he was named one of 1,000 Inspiring Black Scientists in America by the Cell Mentor’s Community of Scholars.
Derek is a founding co-director of the Racial Justice Institute, founder and director of the Center for Men’s Health Equity, and professor of Health Systems Administration and Oncology. Trained in psychology and public health, Dr. Griffith’s program of research focuses on developing strategies to achieve racial, ethnic and gender equity in health. Dr. Griffith is a contributor to and editor of two recent books – Men’s Health Equity: A Handbook (Routledge, 2019), and Racism: Science and Tools for the Public Health Professional (APHA Press, 2019).
Interventions to mitigate, resist, or undo structural racism
"Interventions to mitigate, resist, or undo structural racism
Structural racism has been defined as the totality of ways that societies foster racial discrimination through mutually reinforcing systems and sectors of society. Because this term encompasses consideration of cultural norms and practices, racism within institutions, and racism across sectors and institutions, it is often difficult to know how and where to intervene. In this presentation, I describe three types of interventions that are necessary in the movement to eliminate structural racism. While the ultimate goal is to eliminate structural racism and its effects on and across systems and sectors, we have to find ways to help people manage unhealthy and stressful contexts and build capacity within communities from a strengths-based approach in the meantime.
- Professor Derek Griffith
Racialization and Health in the early 21st Century
Though the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has declared racism a public health problem, it has not provided researchers and health equity advocates with concrete guidance on how to address it. The nature and impact of racism change over time; therefore, any such guidance must reflect the ways racism operates in the early 21st century. In the US, (1) overt forms of racism (e.g., neo-Nazis) co-exist with and are enabled by less perceptible structural forms of racism; (2) domestic and global demographic shifts are underway and are linked to historical injustices; (3) the meaning, content and structure of racial and ethnic categories are changing; and, at the same time, (4) robust bodies of knowledge on racialization are expanding. This presentation draws on Public Health Critical Race Praxis, which is rooted in Critical Race Theory, to discuss the health implications of racism in the early 21st century.
- Chandra Ford"
