Dr. Jason Purnell
Project Director, For the Sake of All
First recorded December 14, 2017
Before Ferguson brought to light racial inequalities in St. Louis, there was a research effort—and organization—working to improve the health of all people by eliminating racial inequities in the St. Louis region.
Dr. Jason Purnell is the project director and principal investigator of For the Sake of All. The organization's landmark report, "A Report on the Health and Well-Being of African Americans in St. Louis—And Why It Matters for Everyone," is the culmination of research from Washington University in St. Louis and Saint Louis University that explored how socioeconomic and sociocultural factors influence health behaviors and health outcomes and on mobilizing community action to address the social determinants of health.
The report poses the question: How can someone living in one community nine miles away live 18 years longer than another?
In fall 2017, his writing following a not-guilty verdict in a police shooting that left a young black man named Anthony Lamar Smith dead, was published by CNN (read it here).
