Ruby Mendenhall (she/her/hers), the Kathryn Lee Baynes Dallenbach Professor in Liberal Arts and Sciences, is a transdisciplinary scholar whose work lives at the intersection of genomics, sociology, big data, community health, poetry, and film.
Prof. Mendenhall’s research examines how structural violence (e.g., neighborhood disinvestment, housing instability, gun violence) “gets under the skin” of Black women and their families. She also examines how resilience, flourishing, and community healing can buffer those effects. She studies genomic biology and how neighborhood stress can alter gene expression and how community-based interventions can promote health and well-being.
Mendenhall was the 2024 Poet Laureate of Urbana, Illinois. Her creative work serves as a tool for truth-telling, collective memory, and radical healing. She believes that science without the voices of community members is incomplete, and that incorporating their stories and cultural knowledge about healing can transform health for everyone.
Prof. Mendenhall is one of IHSI’s earliest affiliates. She has served as a mentor to several community-academic scholars. She has also shared her expertise on foundation funding and health equity with IHSI audiences through workshops and panel presentations. Prof. Mendenhall and IHSI Research Scientist Brandi Barnes are also longtime collaborators on research projects and proposals addressing health disparities.
Recently, Prof. Mendenhall’s work with Smart Affordable Small Healing Homes (SASH) was accepted into the AWS Activate Startup and Proof of Concept programs! SASH has emerged from Prof. Mendenhall’s research exploring the vital connections among housing, health, families, neighborhoods, and community well-being.
Can you describe a goal you are currently pursuing?
One of my primary goals is exploring how AI, smart-home technologies, Community Health Workers, culturally grounded education, and community-generated data can promote health, learning, dignity, and economic opportunity. I want communities historically studied through the lens of disparities to also be recognized as places where knowledge, technologies, and solutions are created.
How has the focus of your research changed or evolved since you first started in the field?
My research began with structural inequality, including racial segregation, poverty, and the experiences of Black families. I later examined how these conditions become embodied through community-based genomic research with Black women in Chicago working with Drs. Gene Robinson, Sandra Rodrigue-Zas and Brent Roberts. Today, my work increasingly explores how communities can use emerging technologies to advance health, education, storytelling, and empowerment.
How is most of your research funded? How is your approach changing?
My research has traditionally been supported by university and foundation funding, including the National Science Foundation and MacArthur Foundation. Given the changing funding environment, I am increasingly developing partnerships with philanthropy, health systems, technology companies, and public-sector organizations.
What is something you want colleagues to know about you or your research?
I welcome interdisciplinary and community-engaged collaborations. I am especially interested in community-centered AI, smart homes and healthy aging, Community Health Workers, social drivers of health, culturally grounded mathematics education, and integrating quantitative data with lived experience. I also want to collaborate with community scientists to publish research and create public events and exhibitions that make our findings accessible.
Are there new research areas you are interested in pursuing in the next 3–5 years?
I want to explore AI, health equity, community knowledge, and the built environment through projects such as SASH™ Smart Homes and Ancestral Math. I am also pursuing an ambitious goal of training 100,000 Community Health Workers. Across this work, my central question is: How can communities historically affected by inequity become co-creators and beneficiaries of the next generation of innovation?
IHSI Affiliates demonstrate leadership and commitment to improving human health. The IHSI affiliate program is designed for those who wish to deepen their relationship with IHSI and contribute to its mission of catalyzing interdisciplinary health research that addresses personal, public, and planetary health challenges. Affiliates enjoy increased visibility and opportunities to engage with and benefit from IHSI staff, other affiliates, and networks, both across campus and with external partners, and to help shape health research, innovation, and translation.
The IHSI Affiliate Program is currently open by invitation only. To become an affiliate, please contact your collaborators at IHSI, or request an invitation by emailing healthinstitute@illinois.edu. Please visit the IHSI Affiliate page for more information.