Derek M. Griffith PhD

Derek M. Griffith, PhD is a Professor of Family and Community Health at Penn Nursing, and a Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. Griffith’s goal is to advance the science of intervening to achieve health equity in the United States and across the globe. Building on his background as a public health psychologist, he has built a program of research on four pillars:

(1) Centering the experience of Black men as a foundation for understanding the limitations of our approach to increasing population health and achieving health equity, (2) Developing individually tailored and multi-level interventions to improve Black men’s health, particularly preventing and managing chronic diseases (3) Advancing the science of anti-racism to make health equity a reality rather than an ideal or aspiration and (4) Developing an intersectional approach to health policy development and evaluating health policy impact that refines how the World Health Organization (WHO), WHO regional offices, the United Nations (Sustainable Development Goals), and other transnational organizations consider gender, men’s health, and health equity.

Dr. Griffith 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.” Dr. Griffith serves as the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Men’s Social & Community Health, and he is a member of the boards of the American Institute for Boys and Men, Global Action on Men’s Health, and the Movember Foundation. He has been interviewed for and quoted in national news outlets such as NPR, the Washington Post, and the New York Times.