Kristin Z. Black, PhD, MPH, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Education and Promotion at East Carolina University (ECU) in Greenville, North Carolina. She received her MPH and PhD in Maternal and Child Health from the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. Dr. Black is committed to utilizing community-based participatory research, mixed methods, and racial equity approaches to understand and address inequities in reproductive health and chronic disease outcomes. Her research merges 3 key components. First, Dr. Black explores the connections between reproductive health, maternal health, and chronic diseases, and if these outcomes differ by race/ethnicity or other social identities. Second, she focuses on understanding what individual- and systems-level factors may hinder or facilitate birthing people’s journey through maternal healthcare services. Third, she is committed to transforming research into action by engaging community stakeholders in implementing and sustaining interventions that tackle health inequities and structural racism.
Currently, Dr. Black is a part of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s first cohort of Health Equity Scholars for Action, a career development award that is funding her 2-year project, Mapping and Analyzing Pressure Points and Structural inequities in Maternal Healthcare (MAPPS-MH) Project. She is also the co-director for the Maternal and Child Health Scholars, Training, and Enrichment Program (MCH-STEP) for undergraduate students in the College of Health and Human Performance at ECU, which is funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Maternal and Child Health Bureau. She serves as the external evaluator for the HRSA-funded North Carolina Baby Love Plus program that is administered by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Through her research and teaching, Dr. Black mentors students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. She teaches courses on health equity and qualitative research methods.
Dr. Black’s work has been published in Qualitative Health Research, Social Science & Medicine, Frontiers in Public Health, Ethnicity & Health, JAMA Oncology, Breast Cancer Research, and Progress in Community Health Partnerships: Research, Education, and Action. Her array of published work includes leading a chapter about using anti-racism organizing in cancer care in the pivotal and timely book, Racism: Science & Tools for the Public Health Professional, published in 2019.
Dr. Black is dedicated to serving the public health profession and community organizations in the pursuit of health equity. She is a member of the Greensboro Health Disparities Collaborative (a community-medical-academic partnership), member of Sisters Network Greensboro NC, chair of the Gillings’ Alumni Association Advisory Board, member of the Gillings’ Public Health Foundation Board, and president of the Society for the Analysis of African American Public Health Issues.
Dr. Black has been a member of ResearchTalk’s consultant team for over 5 years, helping to advise and guide clients on their projects. She also is a member of the QRSI administrative team.
She and her husband live in Greenville, North Carolina with their 4-year-old daughter and 9-year-old pitbull/cattle dog.
