A research home for racism-focused science.
I AM Research Group was created by Dr. Kevin Ahmaad Jenkins as a research home for the work academic institutions often praise in public but fail to protect, fund, reward, or sustain.
The group studies racism, Black health, institutional harm, mental health, chronic disease, data justice, systems of care, and the public evidence needed to make those structures visible.
Dr. Kevin Ahmaad Jenkins built I AM because the work needed a house.
The institute begins with a clear recognition: racism-focused research requires more than permission. It requires protection, infrastructure, funding strategy, methodological seriousness, and a place where scholars can build without being disciplined for naming the structure.
Academic institutions were not ready to reward the work on racism at the level the work demanded.
Equity language was never enough.
Dr. Jenkins created I AM Research Group after recognizing a persistent contradiction inside academic life: institutions could celebrate the language of equity while still failing to fully fund, protect, and reward rigorous scholarship that directly studies racism as a driver of health, institutional harm, and social conditions.
I AM became the answer to that contradiction. It was designed as a place where racism-focused research could live with dignity, attract funding, train scholars, conduct studies, build data infrastructure, and move into public life without being softened into institutional comfort.
The absence of data is not neutral. It is a finding.
To fund the work institutions hesitate to reward.
I AM Research Group exists because racism-focused research needs durable infrastructure: a place to develop studies, pursue grants, train scholars, support community participation, collect data, publish findings, and translate evidence into institutional consequence.
The goal is not to wait for academic permission. The goal is to build a research engine with its own standards, partnerships, studies, public data products, scholar pipeline, and funding strategy.
I AM moves beyond statements and creates a research home where racism-focused work can be protected, funded, and sustained.
Health disparities. Methods. Public evidence.
Use this section for health disparities explainers, methods briefings, Global Black Health Atlas walkthroughs, Black Health Co-OP updates, and scholar training videos.
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We do not wait for institutions to be ready.
I AM Research Group conducts studies, develops fundable research questions, translates evidence, builds Black health data infrastructure, and creates pathways for scholars who want to study racism directly, rigorously, and publicly.
Built from real research, national review, and public translation.
I AM Research Group grows from Dr. Jenkins’s record of conducting studies, reviewing national scientific work, translating health equity research for public audiences, and building research pathways that connect institutions, communities, and scholars.
Applied Health Study Work
Applied, health-facing scholarship that informs the group’s study design and community-engaged approach.
Scientific Review
Racism-focused expertise brought into national scientific review and public health knowledge spaces.
Health Equity Roundtables
Public translation work connected to scientific review, health equity, and public-facing evidence.
Next Generation Pipeline
Training emerging scholars in racism-focused research, public scholarship, data interpretation, and grant thinking.
Studies. Data. Grants. Scholars. Public evidence.
I AM Research Group is built as a full research ecosystem, not a single project or a loose academic interest.
Conduct Racism-Focused Studies
We design and conduct studies on racism, Black health, mental health, chronic disease, caregiving, institutional trust, medical listening, and systems of care.
Build Black Health Data Infrastructure
We develop public data products, surveys, dashboards, Atlas layers, disease education tools, and source-governed evidence systems.
Develop Fundable Research Questions
We turn research priorities into funding narratives, study designs, public deliverables, and institutional partnership opportunities.
Teach Racism Measurement
We train scholars and institutions to measure racism without flattening history, exposure, categories, institutions, or lived experience.
Translate Evidence
We create videos, reports, briefs, teaching tools, public explainers, and media-ready research products that travel beyond academic journals.
Train Scholars
We build a scholar pipeline for research assistants, fellows, HBCU/MSI students, graduate trainees, and emerging public intellectuals.
Training the next generation is part of the research.
I AM Research Group is not only a place to study racism. It is a place to learn how to study racism well. The pipeline trains emerging scholars to ask sharper questions, build measures, read data, develop grants, write manuscripts, and translate evidence for the public.
Students, fellows, research assistants, and emerging scholars learn how to produce evidence that institutions cannot easily ignore.
The Co-OP connects public participation, survey infrastructure, data translation, and Black health visibility.
Black Health Co-OP powers the public side of the research engine.
The Black Health Co-OP and Annual State of Black Data Survey create a public-facing pathway for people, communities, scholars, and partners to participate in building Black health evidence.
Fund the research. Teach the methods. Build the public evidence platform.
Partner with I AM Research Group to support racism-focused studies, Black health data infrastructure, public translation, scholar training, grant development, and community-facing research tools.
