AfterRIT Plenary Speaker

Rick Kittles, Ph.D., is Professor in the Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine and the Senior Vice President for Research at Morehouse School of Medicine. Dr. Kittles was previously Professor and founding Director of the Division of Health Equities within the Department of Population Sciences at the City of Hope (COH) and Associate Director of Health Equities of COH Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Kittles has published over 300 research articles and is well known for his research on prostate cancer and health disparities among African Americans. He serves on many national and international steering committees and advisory boards.

In 2003, Dr. Kittles co-founded African Ancestry, Inc., a private company that provides DNA testing services for tracing African genetic lineages to genealogists and the public around the world. His work on tracing the genetic ancestry of African Americans has brought light to many issues, new and old, which relate to race, ancestry, identity, and group membership. Dr. Kittles’ high-profile research and his strong ability to communicate genetic concepts and issues eloquently and understandably to the lay public has been featured over the past decade in five PBS and BBC network documentaries related to human biological diversity, race and disease. His work has been featured on CNN and the CBS show ‘60 Minutes’ where he was interviewed by Leslie Stahl.

Dr. Kittles was named in Ebony magazine’s “The Ebony Power 100.” Ebony selected the nation's top 100 African American "power players" in sports, academia, religion, business, environment, science & tech, entertainment, arts and letters, fashion, politics, media, activism and health.

In March of 2012 Dr. Kittles presented the Keynote Address to the United Nations General Assembly, “International Day of Remembrance of Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.” Recently, Dr. Kittles was honored by Forbes 250 List “America’s Greatest Innovators.”