​Dr. Derek M. Griffith is a two-time ACS Research Grantee.

Derek M. Griffith, PhD, of Georgetown University, serves as a founding co-director of the Racial Justice Institute, the founder and director of the Center for Men’s Health Equity, a member of the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, and a professor of Health Management & Policy and Oncology.

Dr. Griffith is a two-time ACS research grantee and has published 20 research articles citing support of the American Cancer Society. His first ACS-funded study, “Building capacity to reduce African American men’s dietary cancer risk,” ran from 2007-2012. Findings from that work informed his second ACS grant: “Mighty Men: A faith-based weight loss program to reduce cancer disparities.”

Of his Mighty Men work, Dr. Griffith says: “Middle-aged and older African American men have a particularly high risk for cancers associated with these modifiable determinants of cancer. However, there are no evidence-based weight control interventions that have been targeted to African American men or tailored to individual African American men’s preferences, needs or identities. Mighty Men is unique in that it is the first study to promote the health of African American men that uses an individualized approach to incorporating ideals of manhood and integrate positive notions of how the men involved view what it means to be an African American man, with strengths of the African American community (e.g., faith-based organizations) that may help the program to be maintained after the study is completed.”

For more information on Dr. Griffith’s work and research, read his 2021 paper titled, "Application of an antiracism lens in the field of implementation science (IS): Recommendations for reframing implementation research with a focus on justice and racial equity."  Dr. Griffith also presented during the ACS research symposium on Medical Mistrust and Health Equity in November 2020.