Jeanita W. Richardson (Ph.D, M.Ed) is an emeritus Professor and was the Director of Educational Program Enhancement in the Department of Public Health Sciences (PHS), University of Virginia, School of Medicine until she retired in 2023. Her 40-year career includes being a corporate banker, middle school teacher, senior policy analyst for the Commonwealth’s State Council of Higher Education and Department of Planning and Budget and academician. She has over 25 years of expertise in applied qualitative and quantitative strategies designed to assess and advance health equity outcomes through research, teaching and mutually beneficial community partnerships. In collaboration with international ministries of health, community-based organizations, federal, state and local educational and health entities, she has provided data-driven institutionally relevant recommendations and has earned a reputation as an advocate for optimizing the health equity of populations.
As Director of Educational Program Enhancement, she promoted educational excellence through professional development opportunities for teaching faculty, such as workshops enhancing skill development in educational pedagogy and research. She provided opportunities for teaching faculty to share innovative strategies to promote student competencies to include sharing their innovations at conferences and in manuscript submissions. She oversaw a variety of community-led and community-based initiatives, outreach programs and research projects designed to foster mutually beneficial solutions to complex problems. Her experience in community engagement and research mentorship make her a highly sought after resource for culturally respectful research and programmatic practices.
Two of her five books are recognized as seminal works in their respective fields. Her grounded theory research yielded the Highly Effective Community Schools (HECS) model, noted as a standard for creating and evaluating full-service community schools by the United States Department of Education [The Full-Service Community School Movement: Lessons from the James Adams Community School]. With Dr. Terri Wright, she published the first book advancing school-based health care clinics as a viable empirically supported model for advancing child and community health, while also contributing seven chapters [School-based Health Care: Advancing Both Educational Success & Public Health.]. A third book, The Cost of Being Poor, has been used to inform national lead abatement policy. Appreciation for her research and its impact on clinical and public health practice in child asthma and type two diabetes risk and prevalence was demonstrated with an honor from the St. Kitts and Nevis Ministry of Health.
A double Hoo, Dr. Richardson has published numerous articles, book chapters and books on innovative approaches to public health policy, practice and education, and has taught and mentored many students at every level of the educational continuum. As a methodologist, she served on 20 dissertation committees at UVa (12) Virginia State, Hofstra and Florida Atlantic Universities. In addition, she was awarded several grants to support the development of innovative population health education and training programs.
P.O. Box 800717
Tel: 1-434-924-8784
Fax: 1-434-924-8437
Email: jwr4f@virginia.edu
Health System West Complex, Room 3215
Expertise:
Qualitative and mixed-method approaches to community-based issues. Culturally respectful research implementation in community and global health. Comprehensive health and educational policy analyses. Provision of technical assistance to community-based organizations seeking to partner with and engage political and corporate entities to advance health equity.
Research Interests:
Her research highlights the needs of populations society devalues particularly as it pertains to the nexus between the health and learning readiness of children and the role of culturally sensitive approaches to research.
Teaching Responsibilities:
PHS 5815/7815 Social Determinants of Child Health
PHS 7015/5015 Qualitative Methods for Community & Global Health
PHS 7610 Health Promotion & Health Behavior
PHS 8125 Qualitative Data Analysis
PHS 8960 Qualitative Practicum
Sample Publications
Richardson, JW (2020) An Active Learning Approach to Teaching Social Determinants of Health. Pedagogy in Health Promotion. DOI: 10.1177/2373379920933311
Richardson, JW & Kelly, KD (2020) It’s not what you say, it’s what you do: A CBPR Approach Using Qualitative Interviews SAGE Research Methods Cases: Medicine and Health DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4135/9781529740356
Richardson, JW, Kelly, KD, Kumodzi, TK, Slack-Liburd, N, Laws, H (2019) Type 2 Diabetes Prevalence, Distribution and Risk Factors in St. Kitts and Nevis, West Indies. Int J Diabetes Clin Res 6:114 Volume 6 | Issue 4 DOI: 10.23937/2377-3634/1410114
*Richardson, JW, Conn, C. Tchuisseu, YP, Omar, D, Browne, A, King, S, Crawford-Johnson, M, Swaby, N, Wills, A, Herbert, A, OConnor, M, Mills, G. Determining the Prevalence of Type Two Diabetes and its Risk Factors in Nevis, WI. West Indies Medical Journal.
Yablansky, A., Devers, E., Richardson, JW (2016) Hard is Normal: Military Families’ Transitions within the Process of Deployment. Research in Nursing & Health 36: 42-56.
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