Ruby Mendenhall
Ruby Mendenhall, a Richard and Margaret Romano Professorial Scholar, holds appointments in Sociology, African American Studies, and Urban and Regional Planning. She is affiliated with the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology (IGB) and the Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Her research employs sociogenomics to explore how aspects of stress in urban environments “get under the skin” to affect health and wellness. Sociogenomics highlights the dynamic nature of the genome and how environmental factors can influence gene expression patterns. Mendenhall is specifically examining how the stress of living in neighborhoods with high levels of violence may affect how the genes that regulate the immune system and inflammation are expressed.
