About

Robert E. Fullilove, EdD, is the Associate Dean for Community and Minority Affairs and a Professor of Sociomedical Sciences at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. He also holds the position of Adjunct Full Professor at Teachers College. His research interests include the impact of drug treatment programs on the lives of men and women addicted to crack cocaine and other drugs, HIV/AIDS, minority health issues, substance abuse, and science and mathematics education. Dr. Fullilove co-directs the Community Research Group at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, working alongside Mindy Fullilove. Throughout his career, Dr. Fullilove has contributed extensively to public health research and policy, serving on multiple committees at the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, including the Board of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and study committees on substance abuse, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and indoor spaces and health. He has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Distinguished Teaching Award at the Mailman School of Public Health and an honorary doctorate from Bank Street College of Education. His work emphasizes community health, urban health, and health disparities, with a focus on minority health issues and the social determinants of health.

Research topics

• Nursing
• Medicine
• Intensive care medicine
• Clinical psychology
• Gerontology
• Internal medicine
• Psychotherapist
• Family medicine
• Psychiatry
• Social psychology
• Psychology

Selected publications

• 12. Structural Racism in Policing and Mass Incarceration: A Driver of Health Disparities in Black and Latiné Communities

  American Public Health Association eBooks · 2024-01-01

  book-chapterSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Addressing Food Insecurity Through Community Empowerment in a Staten Island (Richmond County) Neighborhood in New York City

  Journal of Community Health · 2024-03-11

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Political and Social Determinants of Punishment and Health in Pretrial Systems

  2024-10-07

  book-chapterSenior author

  Acute, chronic, and infectious physical and behavioral health conditions are causes and consequences of mass incarceration. Multi-scalar health impacts of pretrial systems affect people diverted to incarceration alternatives, detained on bail awaiting trial or charges, and released upon return to communities. This chapter assesses punishment and health within pretrial contexts with attention to institutional, systemic, and structural factors. First, we review contemporary pretrial justice and health policies and practices. Second, we synthesize evidence of health risks and inequities associated with confinement and community conditions during the pretrial phase. Third, a New York City’s Rikers Island case study explicates the relationship between discretionary ethics and jail-attributable injury illness, and death. Fourth, we contextualize healthcare system oversight and accountability, rights to health and safety, patient-provider relations and ethics, and equivalence of healthcare objectives in both pretrial and community systems. Fifth, we conceptualize political and social determinants of pretrial justice, punishment, and health. Concluding recommendations advance pretrial justice reform and health, well-being, and equity within a culture of health action framework.

  PublisherDOI

• Correction: Addressing Food Insecurity Through Community Empowerment in a Staten Island (Richmond County) Neighborhood in New York City

  Journal of Community Health · 2024-08-04

  erratumOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Racial and ethnic disparities post-hospitalization for COVID-19: barriers to access to care for survivors of COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome

  Scientific Reports · 2024-05-21 · 7 citations

  articleOpen access

  Racial and ethnic health disparities in the incidence and severity of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been observed globally and in the United States. Research has focused on transmission, hospitalization, and mortality among racial and ethnic minorities, but Long COVID-19 health disparities research is limited. This study retrospectively evaluated 195 adults who survived COVID-19 associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (C-ARDS) in New York City from March-April 2020. Among survivors, 54% met the criteria for Long COVID syndrome. Hispanic/Latinx patients, were more likely to be uninsured (p = 0.027) and were less frequently discharged to rehabilitation facilities (p < 0.001). A cross-sectional telephone survey and interview were conducted with a subset of survivors (n = 69). Among these, 11% reported a lack of follow-up primary care post-discharge and 38% had subsequent emergency room visits. Notably, 38% reported poor treatment within the health care system, with 67% attributing this to racial or ethnic bias. Thematic analysis of interviews identified four perceived challenges: decline in functional status, discrimination during hospitalization, healthcare system inequities, and non-healthcare-related structural barriers. Sources of resilience included survivorship, faith, and family support. This study highlights structural and healthcare-related barriers rooted in perceived racism and poverty as factors impacting post-COVID-19 care.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Availability of Hand Sanitizers in Food Establishments of New York City: An Observational Study

  Journal of Community Health · 2023-09-23

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• Predicting Covid-19 infection and death rates among E.U. minority populations in the absence of racially disaggregated data through the use of US data comparisons

  European Journal of Public Health · 2023-09-15 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  BACKGROUND: The E.U.'s lack of racially disaggregated data impedes the formulation of effective interventions, and crises such as Covid-19 may continue to impact minorities more severely. Our predictive model offers insight into the disparate ways in which Covid-19 has likely impacted E.U. minorities and allows for the inference of differences in Covid-19 infection and death rates between E.U. minority and non-minority populations. METHODS: Data covering Covid-19, social determinants of health and minority status were included from 1 March 2020 to 28 February 2021. A systematic comparison of US and E.U. states enabled the projection of Covid-19 infection and death rates for minorities and non-minorities in E.U. states. RESULTS: The model predicted Covid-19 infection rates with 95-100% accuracy for 23 out of 28 E.U. states. Projections for Covid-19 infection and mortality rates among E.U. minority groups illustrate parallel trends to US rates. CONCLUSIONS: Disparities in Covid-19 infection and death rates by minority status likely exist in patterns similar to those observed in US data. Policy Implications: Collecting data by race/ethnicity in the E.U. would help document health disparities and craft more targeted health interventions and mitigation strategies.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• A cultural and political difference: comparing the racial and social framing of population crack cocaine use between the United States and France

  Harm Reduction Journal · 2022-05-12 · 12 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Depression, HIV, and COVID-19: A Deadly Trifecta

  Public Health Reports · 2022-02-09 · 10 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  Social Determinants of Health and Health Disparities: COVID-19 Exposures and Mortality Among African American People in the United States

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The COVID-19 pandemic in an interdependent world: Digital health as a tool for equity and gender empowerment

  Elsevier eBooks · 2022-01-01 · 1 citations

  book-chapter
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Mindy Thompson Fullilove

  81 shared

• Alwyn Cohall

  Columbia University

  37 shared

• Joyce Moon Howard

  New York University

  37 shared

• Amy Bleakley

  University of Delaware

  36 shared

• Deborah Levine

  36 shared

• Nancy VanDevanter

  New York University

  36 shared

• Michael Hennessy

  University of Delaware

  36 shared

• Sarah Millet

  36 shared

Labs

• Community Research Group at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia UniversityPI

Education

• Ph.D., Public Health

  Columbia University

  1988

• Other, Public Health

  Columbia University

  1983

• B.A., Sociology

  Columbia University

  1979

Awards & honors

• Picker Commonwealth Scholar (1996)
• Award for Teaching Excellence (1994, 2001)
• Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, Bank Street College…
• National Associate of the National Academies, (2003)
• Rev. Dr. Preston R. Washington Visionary Award (2003)