Kim Blankenship to Become Sociology Chair at American University

Duke Associate Research Professor Kim Blankenship, who for two years has led DGHI’s research initiative on Gender, Poverty and Health, has accepted a new position as Chair of the Sociology Department at American University.

In her new role, Blankenship will lead efforts to develop a new focus around health and society through research, curriculum, and faculty recruitment. She will also serve as the director of the newly established Center on Health, Risk and Society that will be based in the sociology department. It is one of several new research centers aimed at boosting American University’s interdisciplinary research in health and global health.

Blankenship has held a joint appointment as an Associate Research Professor with the Duke Global Health Institute and the Department of Sociology for the past two years. She has led DGHI’s research efforts in Gender, Poverty and Health, taught undergraduate students in the Global Health Focus program, mentored DGHI postdoctoral fellows, and continued her research focused on HIV.

“It has been exciting to be a part of DGHI, to watch it expand, and to be introduced to a whole range of health issues beyond my own area of expertise - HIV,” said Blankenship. “I hope to help to inspire in my colleagues at American, the same commitment to global health that DGHI has inspired in me, through the Center on Health, Risk and Society, my research and teaching, and other activities.”

For more than 15 years, Blankenship has focused her research on understanding how social inequalities shape vulnerability to HIV/AIDS, and its implications for structuring interventions that promote HIV prevention. She plans to continue building on this research at American University, which includes 1) a study of the impact of movement between the criminal justice system and the community on HIV-related risk, and 2) the implementation and impact of community-led structural interventions on HIV risk among female sex workers in India.  Blankenship will also continue working with DGHI Director Michael Merson to analyze HIV prevention programming in selected states in India, supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Blankenship, who had returned to undergraduate teaching while at Duke and developed a course on gender, poverty and health, pays special tribute to the passionate global health students she taught in class.

“My interactions with Duke undergraduate students have been as rewarding as my research collaborations. In fact, I was able to involve some of these students in my research projects,” said Blankenship. “My students are simply an amazing group of young people who give me great hope for the future.”