About

Ruby Mendenhall is an Associate Professor in Sociology, African American Studies, Urban and Regional Planning, and Social Work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She is also an affiliate of the Institute for Genomic Biology and the Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. She received her Ph.D. in Human Development and Social Policy from Northwestern University in 2004. Her dissertation focused on Black Women in Gautreaux’s Housing Desegregation Program, examining the long-run effects of neighborhood conditions and networks on economic independence using administrative welfare and employment data, census information, and in-depth interviews. Her research concentrates on issues of social inequality over the life course and the role of public policy and individual agency in facilitating social and economic mobility. She employs both quantitative and qualitative methods, analyzing administrative welfare and employment data, census data, in-depth interviews, and focus group data. Mendenhall leads a multi-site research study on how low- to moderate-income families utilize the Earned Income Tax Credit for social and economic mobility, with projects in Champaign and Boston. She also conducts research on the Gautreaux Assisted Housing Program in Chicago, one of the largest desegregation programs in the nation.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Computer Science
• Gender studies
• Social psychology
• Psychology
• Law
• Psychotherapist
• Mathematics
• History
• Mathematics education
• Medicine
• Medical education
• Aesthetics
• Criminology

Selected publications

• Review for "From Childhood to Adulthood: A Mixed-Methods Exploration of Social Environments and Psychological Well-Being in Predominantly Black American Urban Communities"

  2025-05-15

  peer-review1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Recreating the circle: A collective vision for radical African healing in community.

  American Psychologist · 2025-05-01 · 5 citations

  article

  As attacks on Black people have become more visible, key Black organizations have been building a grassroots movement of culturally grounded healing circles. African-centered healing circles address historical and contemporary racial stress experienced by Black people. They privilege culture and function as community-driven medicine, promoting collective healing and protecting against the effects of ongoing racism. The growth of these circles signals a shift away from Western methods of healing and toward indigenous practices. This article describes their growth, underlying theories, common elements, and evidence, and sketches a vision for national and international expansion. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

  PublisherDOI

• A Machine Learning Approach to Asian & Asian-American Young Adults’ Racial Microaggressions and Depressive Symptoms

  Studies in Clinical Social Work Transforming Practice Education and Research · 2025-01-05

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Commentary: Black Mothers in Racially Segregated Neighborhoods Embodying Structural Violence: PTSD and Depressive Symptoms on the South Side of Chicago

  JOURNAL OF MENTAL HEALTH AND CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY · 2024-01-04

  articleOpen access

  Black Americans continue to experience higher rates of poverty, hyper-residential segregation, and exposure to neighborhood violence compared to their white counterparts1,2. Among Black women, 25% live in poverty.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 131 Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index vs Point-of-Care Ultrasound in Predicting Adverse Outcomes

  Annals of Emergency Medicine · 2024-09-25

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Seven million tweets of violence: gendered analysis of Black women representation on social media platforms

  Ethnic and Racial Studies · 2024-10-11

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Designing a Community Health Worker (CHW) Certificate Training that Centers Marginalized Youth’s Health and Wellness

  Journal of Community Medicine and Health Solutions · 2024-04-23

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  The genesis of the youth Community Health Worker (CHW) and Citizen/Community Science (CS) training is rooted in interdisciplinary research and the lived experiences of families in Chicago and Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Mendenhall and colleagues’ (Drs. Robinson, Roberts and Rodriquez-Zas) South Chicago’s Black Mothers’ Resiliency Project provide dinsights into Black women’s experiences with genomics, trauma, and community science. Black women’s testimonies highlighted the health impacts of living in neighborhoods with high levels of gun violence and the resilience strategies they employ. This led to the development of a youth-centered CHW and CS training program, aimed at addressing health disparities. The program trained high school students and young adults (up to age 24) as CHWs and CSs, focusing on the objectives of (1) embedding culturally competent health workers in marginalized communities; (2) amplifying community voices; (3) collecting, analyzing, and quantifying observational data to inform policy decision-making; (4) amplifying community voices in healthcare discussions and (5) creating community health care worker training certification for youth. Over three years, the program trained over 50 participants, incorporating elements of wellness, art, and entrepreneurship.Based on ethnographic notes participants reported increases in wellness such as reduced anxiety and increased empowerment. The program’s long-term goals include creating employment opportunities for graduates and contributing to improved community health outcomes. This initiative represents a step towards addressing racial trauma and promoting community healing through youth-led innovation and empowerment.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Neighborhood as Social Exposome: Black Mothers’ Narratives of Chronic Stress as a Consequence of Living in Racially Hypersegregated Neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago

  Family Medicine and Primary Care Open Access · 2024-02-02 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Background: Structural racism negatively affects the lives of Black women living in hyper segregated neighborhoods on the South Side of Chicago. As a part of emerging research about social exposome's effect on health, this project seeks to understand how the neighborhood context shapes social exposures that often contribute to mental and physical health disparities for Black women. Social exposome is how social experiences can manifest in the body. Materials and Methods: This is a mixed methods study that combines geographic data with interviews from Black 92 mothers to understand their social exposures in their neighborhoods, with particular attention to health domains. The Chicago Health Atlas, a public health dataset created by the City of Chicago, is used to contextualize the women's stories about their lived experiences on the Southside of Chicago. The mothers'one-hour interviews are part of a larger study, "The South Chicago Black Mothers' Resiliency Project," which examined how one's health is affected by neighborhood conditions. The original study results showed that neighborhood conditions significantly affected Black mothers' health outcomes. Results: Multilevel thematic analysis of the in-depth interviews and descriptive analysis of a public health dataset elucidate that racially hypersegregated neighborhoods serve as enclaves of racialized health disparities. As such, Black women are left feeling trapped where they live, due to high levels of community violence exposure, vacant housing, and other forms of structural violence that are associated with diseases and early deaths among Black women. Conclusion: This study turns an intersectional lens on the concept of the social exposome to understand Black women's narratives of the chronic stress resulting from living in racially hypersegregated neighborhoods with high levels of gun violence. These neighborhoods are culturally rich and vibrant. Unfortunately, the health data shows that systemic racism often cuts down the life and potential of so many of the mothers and their family members. As a society, it is critical to identify and eliminate threats to well-being in the exposome. This is especially true of physicians and other healthcare providers. We argue that all healthcare training institutions must train future practitioners to holistically understand the social contexts of their patients' lives, highlighting the need to advance equity as prevention and the holistic healing of individuals.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Artificial Intelligence, Social Responsibility, and the Roles of the University

  Communications of the ACM · 2024-08-01 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  How universities can influence socially responsible AI technology development and use.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Black Mothers in Racially Segregated Neighborhoods Embodying Structural Violence: PTSD and Depressive Symptoms on the South Side of Chicago

  Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities · 2023-01-30 · 10 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• EAGER: STEM Illinois: The Land-Grant Model of Outreach and Education to Nurture Future Underrepresented Computer Scientists

  NSF · $300k · 2020–2023

Frequent coauthors

• Margaret Browne Huntt

  University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

  22 shared

• Stacy Anne Harwood

  21 shared

• Meggan J. Lee

  Illinois College

  14 shared

• Andrew J. Greenlee

  12 shared

• Rita M. Ryan

  Rainbow Babies & Children's Hospital

  12 shared

• Rubén G. Rumbaut

  11 shared

• Wendy Anne Smith

  Sydney Local Health District

  10 shared

• Edward L. Deci

  University of Rochester

  10 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Human Development and Social Policy

  Northwestern University

  2004