Enrique Neblett, PhD – Faculty Profiles – U-M School of Public Health

Enrique W. Neblett, Jr. is a professor of health behavior and health education, faculty
co-lead for Diversity Equity, and Inclusion, and associate director of the Detroit
Community-Academic Urban Research Center. From 2008 – 2019, he was a professor of
psychology and neuroscience at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Dr. Neblett is one of the leading U.S. scholars in the area of racism and health,
with a particular focus on understanding how racism-related stress influences the
mental and physical health of African American young people. Through a research program
that integrates psychology, biology, developmental and family science, and public
health, his scholarship has added to the body of evidence that: 1) racism undermines
the health and well-being of African American adolescents and young adults; and 2)
Black youth’s beliefs about the significance and meaning of race, as well as family
messages about race, can protect youth from the psychological and physical harm associated
with exposure to racial discrimination. Using longitudinal and psychophysiological
methods, Dr. Neblett and his collaborators have examined the mechanisms by which racial
discrimination, internalized racism, and impostor feelings can affect health. This
work also includes investigations of the interplay between youth’s sociocultural strengths
and biological processes to understand the pathways by which youth are more vulnerable
to, or protected against, the negative health effects of racism. In Dr. Neblett’s
newest line of research, he conducts community-based participatory research with an
eye toward developing and implementing interventions, programs, and policies to address
the health consequences of structural racism and promote health equity.

Dr. Neblett’s research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the National
Science Foundation, the William T. Grant Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
He served a four-year term on the Society for Research on Adolescence Executive Council
(2018-2022), and in 2018, was appointed Director of Diversity Initiatives in the Department
of Psychology and Neuroscience at UNC. Dr. Neblett serves as an associate editor for
Cultural Diversity & Ethnic Minority Psychology and for Developmental Psychology. He was the Program Co-Chair for the 2021 American Psychological Association Society
for the Psychological Study of Race, Ethnicity and Culture (Division 45) Biennial
Conference and Chair of the 2013 National Black Graduate Conference in Psychology.

In 2022, Dr. Neblett was selected as a recipient of the Society for Clinical Child
and Adolescent Psychology Distinguished Career Award, and in 2021, he was named the
inaugural recipient of the National Institute of Mental Health James Jackson Memorial
Award. Dr. Neblett has also received several teaching and mentoring awards including
recognition as Mentor of the Year by the Black Caucus of the Society for Research
in Child Development (2019), the Tanner Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching,
the Faculty Award for Excellence in Doctoral Mentoring (2017), and the Chapman Family
Teaching Award (2014). From 2006 – 2008, Dr. Neblett was a National Science Foundation
Postdoctoral Research Fellow.

Dr. Neblett earned his Sc.B. from Brown University and his M.S. from the Pennsylvania
State University. He earned his Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Michigan
in 2006 and completed postdoctoral training at Howard University in Psychology and
Cardiovascular Psychophysiology.