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John Rich, MD, MPH

John Rich

Visiting Research Professor
Health Management and Policy; Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice
215.762.3934
jar82@drexel.edu
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Degrees

AB, English Literature, Dartmouth College; MPH, Harvard School of Public Health; MD, Duke Medical School

Bio

John A. Rich, MD, MPH, is a Visiting Research Professor in the Health Management and Policy department at the Drexel University Dornsife School of Public Health. He is also co-founder of the Drexel Center for Nonviolence and Justice, a multidisciplinary effort to address violence and trauma to improve physical and mental health. Dr. Rich’s work has focused on issues of urban violence and trauma, health disparities, particularly as they affect the health of men of color. Dr. Rich is an expert in qualitative research methods and narrative analysis.

In 2006, Dr. Rich was awarded a MacArthur “Genius” Fellowship. In awarding this distinction, the Foundation cited his work to design “new models of health care that stretch across the boundaries of public health, education, social service, and justice systems to engage young men in caring for themselves and their peers.”

Prior to joining Drexel University, Dr. Rich served as the Medical Director of the Boston Public Health Commission where he led the city’s initiatives on Men’s Health, Cancer, Cardiovascular Health and Health Disparities. As a primary care doctor at Boston Medical Center, he created the Young Men’s Health Clinic and initiated the Boston HealthCREW, a program to train inner city young men as peer health educators. His book about urban violence titled Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Trauma and Violence in the Lives of Young Black Men (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2009) shares stories of trauma and healing.

Dr. Rich earned his A.B. degree in English from Dartmouth College, his M.D. from Duke University School of Medicine, and his M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health. He completed his internship and residency in primary care internal medicine at the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and a fellowship in general internal medicine at the Harvard Medical School. In 2009, Dr. Rich was elected to the National Academy of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. He currently serves on several boards including the Philadelphia Board of Health, and the Trust for America’s Health. He served on the Board of Trustees for Dartmouth College from 2008-2016.

He is the inaugural director of the RUSH BMO Institute for Health Equity in Chicago, IL.

Research Interests

  • Health Disparities
  • Violence and Trauma
  • Urban Health
  • Qualitative and Mixed Methods

Publications

Rich, JA, Miech, E.J., Bilal, U. et al. How education and racial segregation intersect in neighborhoods with persistently low COVID-19 vaccination rates in Philadelphia. BMC Public Health 22, 1044 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13414-3.

Tabb LP, Rich J, Waite D, Alberto C, Harris E, Gardner J, Gentile N, Corbin, T. Examining associations between adverse childhood experiences and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms among young survivors of urban violence. Journal of Urban Health, 2022: 1-11.

Corbin T, Tabb LP, Waite D, Purtle J, Harris E, Gardner J, Gentile N, Rowhani-Rahbar A, Rich J. Posttraumatic stress, depression, and sleep among young survivors of violence. Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved, 32(3): 1339-1358.

Corbin TJ, Tabb LP, Rich JA. 2020. Commentary on Facing Structural Racism in Emergency Medicine. Academic Emergency Medicine. doi:10.1111/acem.1409

Rich JA, et al. 2020. Pathways to Help-Seeking Among Black Male Trauma Survivors: Fuzzy Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 33(4):528-540.

Richmond TS, Wiebe DJ, Reilly PM, Rich J, et al. 2019. Contributors to Postinjury Mental Health in Urban Black Men with Serious Injuries. JAMA Surgery, 154(9):836-843.

Jacoby SF, Rich JA, Webster JL, Richmond TS. 2018. "Sharing things with people that I don't even know": Help-seeking for psychological symptoms in injured Black men in Philadelphia. Ethnicity & Health, 25(3):1-19.

Purtle J, Rich LJ, Bloom SL, Rich JA, Corbin TJ. 2015. Cost-benefit analysis simulation of a hospital-based violence intervention program. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 48(2):162-169.

Corbin TJ, Rich JA, et al. 2011.Developing a trauma-informed, emergency department-based intervention for victims of urban violence. Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 12(5):510-525.

Rich JA. 2010. Viewing the future through the lens of the past: a personal reflection on disparities education in medicine and public health. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 25 (Suppl 2):S202-203.

Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Trauma and Violence in the Lives of Young Black Men, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD. November 2009.

Rich J, Grey C. 2005. Pathways to recurrent trauma for young Black men: traumatic stress, substance use and the "code of the street." American Journal of Public Health, 95:816-824.

Rich JA, Stone DA. 1996. The experience of violent injury for young African American men: the meaning of being a sucker. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 11:77-82.