Keon L. Gilbert, Dr.PH, MA, MPA is an Associate Professor in the Department of Behavioral Science and Health Education at Saint Louis University’s College for Public Health and Social Justice. He is also a Fellow at the Brookings Institution (Washington, D.C.). His research focuses on social capital, health inequities, Black men’s health, and health promotion and disease prevention interventions for chronic diseases. Dr. Gilbert utilizes his CBPR skills to develop and evaluate community-based projects focused on health and education inequities in Black communities in urban and rural settings. His research portfolio includes mixed methods approaches to answer research questions regarding the intersections of race, class, and gender. His work has also involved understanding the role of social and health care policies on health outcomes; access and use of health care services; understanding the role of education on psychological development of Black males; the role of racial equity tools to influence local and county policy change; and most recently, understanding how vulnerable populations in Missouri have been affected by COVID-19 and how changes in systems, structures, laws and policy exacerbate vulnerability or provide protection to those communities. His work also focuses on community and organizational change to achieve health equity, which includes building research collaborations to address emerging and systemic inequities in health.

Dr. Gilbert is one of the Executive Directors of the Institute for Healing Justice and Equity at Saint Louis University. The Institute includes a multidisciplinary group of faculty focused on using research, training, community engagement, and policy change to eliminate health disparities caused by systemic oppression. He has published widely across peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, evaluation reports, and op-eds.

As a ResearchTalk scholar, Gilbert has taught at two professional development events, the Qualitative Research Summer Intensive and Qualitative Inquiry for HBCU/MSI Researchers, where he has taught “Learning from Marginalized Voices via Community-based Participatory Research” and “Photovoice: Powerful Images That Communicate Current Realities to Direct Social Change.”