Tanjala S. Purnell, PhD

Tanjala S. Purnell, PhD, MPH, FASN is an Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She holds joint appointments in the Johns Hopkins Departments of Surgery, Health Policy and Management, and Health Behavior and Society.  She is Executive Director of the Health Freedom Path to Wellness Program and Founding Director of the Faith-Based Alliance for Kidney Health Equity and The B.O.L.D. Health Equity Initiative.

Dr. Purnell is a native of the Mississippi Delta and a proud alumna of Tougaloo College, where she received her B.S. in Computer Science. She received her MPH from The Ohio State University and her PhD from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She completed a Postdoctoral Research Fellowship at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Her research has focused on identifying and addressing patient, family, healthcare system, policy, and community factors influencing disparities in transplantation/organ donation, and related cardiometabolic diseases, including kidney disease, hypertension, and diabetes. She has received several national and international research honors and has published findings from her work in leading journals.

Nationally, Dr. Purnell is a member of the Board of Directors for the National Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program, a member of the Governing Board for the Living Legacy Foundation of Maryland, and a member of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Transplant Advisory Committee. She is the Immediate Past Chair of the American Society for Transplant Surgeons (ASTS) Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee and is the inaugural recipient of the ASTS Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Award. Dr. Purnell is the 2023 recipient of the NKF Excellence in Transplantation Award.

Twitter: @tpurnell1908