Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion

Profile

Kevin Ahmaad Jenkins, PhD is a Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing and a Core Investigator at the Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion (CHERP) at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center in Philadelphia. At Penn, Dr. Jenkins is a Vice-Provost's Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Social Policy & Practice, and Associate Fellow, Center for Public Health Initiatives, Perelman School of Medicine. He is also the director of the Interpreting Attitudes toward Minorities in Medicine (I AM) Research Group.

Dr. Jenkins' research examines the influence of race, racism, and psychosocial stress within medicine. Dr. Jenkins has led research studies that analyze how stress interacts with vascular-based diseases (e.g., heart disease, chronic kidney disease, and diabetes) and Alzheimer's Disease in high-risk subgroups within the Black community. To best understand how racism makes people sick, Dr. Jenkins and his research team have worked with former professional football players, veterans, and people living with vascular-based diseases to create family-centered culturally sensitive and competent interventions. A graduate of North Carolina Central University, Dr. Jenkins went on to earn a Master of Applied Science degree from Florida A&M University, and PhD from the University of Florida.