Richardson, Jr., Joseph

Bio

Dr. Richardson received his PhD from Rutgers University-School of Criminal Justice and his bachelor's degree in African and African-American Studies from the University of Virginia. He completed a Spencer Foundation post-doctoral research training fellowship at the University at Chicago and NIMH funded clinical post-doctoral research training in substance use, mental health and HIV/AIDS at the Morehouse School of Medicine and the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.

Dr. Richardson's research focuses on four specific areas: 1) Gun violence and trauma; 2) Incarceration as a social determinant of health; 3) The Black male life course and health risk behaviors; 4) Parenting strategies for low-income Black male youth. He is trained as an urban ethnographer and medical anthropologist. Dr. Richardson is the Director of the Violence Intervention Research Project at Prince George's Hospital Trauma Center, the busiest Level II trauma center in the US. He is Principal Investigator on two longitudinal qualitative research studies. The first study examines the risk factors for repeat violent injury, linkages/barriers to care and HIV risk related behaviors among young Black men treated by Prince George's Hospital for violent injury (i.e., gunshot wound, stabbing or assault). The second study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation examines the role and function of the Affordable Care Act Navigator, specifically, their experiences enrolling victims of violent injury into health insurance coverage. This study is being conducted at the University of Maryland Medical System R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center (Baltimore) and the Prince George's Hospital Trauma Center. Dr. Richardson is Co-Director of the Capital Region Violence Intervention Program, an emerging hospital violence intervention program at Prince George's Hospital Trauma Center. As a Faculty Affiliate for the Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR), Dr. Richardson serves as Co-Investigator for the National Drug Early Warning System (NDEWS) and Director of the NDEWS Rapid Response Team. NDEWS received a $3 million dollar grant from NIDA to study emerging drug use and trends in the US. His selected research publications have appeared in the American Journal of Public Health, the Journal of Urban Health, Ethnography, the Journal of Family Issues, Spectrum and New Directions in Child and Adolescent Development. He has produced a short documentary 'Bullets Without Names' which chronicles the experiences of a young Black male survivor of a firearm-related violent injury and produced 'Every 80 Minutes' a PSA on gun violence in Philadephia. Bullets Without Names was nominated for an American Visions Award in 2014. He has appeared on several media outlets such as National Public Radio (NPR), Russia Today (RT), CBC Radio (Canada), Press TV (Iran), Global Times (China) and NBC News (Washington DC). Dr. Richardson is a Research Scientist for Friends Research Institute and a Board Member for the Brady Campaign and Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence. He is also the host and producer of the Working Class Intellectuals podcast. Dr. Richardson is a native of Philadelphia.