Tyson Brown

Tyson Brown is Professor of Sociology and Medicine at Duke University, where he directs the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity. A medical sociologist, race scholar, and population health scientist, his research integrates innovative theoretical frameworks with advanced data science and statistical methods to examine the causes, consequences, and solutions to racial inequality, with the aim of advancing knowledge, informing policy, and fostering a more equitable society (see personal website).

Dr. Brown’s research has led to high-impact publications in top journals across sociology, demography, gerontology, population health, and health policy. His scholarly contributions have been recognized with awards from the American Sociological Association and Duke University, and his work has fostered interdisciplinary collaborations with scholars nationwide, including through engagements with the National Academies. He has held appointments as a resident fellow at Oxford University and as the inaugural Duke Presidential Fellow. His research and training have been supported by competitive grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Ford Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health.

Professor Brown’s current program of research focuses on the scientific study of structural racism as a fundamental cause of health inequality. By developing theoretically-informed, innovative and rigorous methods for quantifying structural racism—across economic, educational, political, housing, and criminal-legal domains—and its effects on population health, his research provides empirical evidence on why racialized health inequities exist. Moreover, by mapping the geography of structural racism, his work identifies where racially discriminatory contexts are particularly severe and pernicious.

BIO JULY 2026