Daphne C. Watkins

Daphne C. Watkins, is an American professor at the University of Michigan, known for her research on (1) behavioral interventions for historically marginalized groups; (2) mixed methods approaches to research in context; and (3) leadership development and organizational structures. To date, Dr. Watkins’ research has focused on understanding the social determinants of health that explain within-group differences among Black men; developing evidence-based strategies to improve the physical and mental health conditions for Black men; and increasing knowledge about the intersection of age, culture, and gender. Dr. Watkins is an experienced mixed methods researcher who uses qualitative and quantitative data to increase knowledge about how intersecting social determinants and gender dynamics place marginalized men at high risk for poor health.
Dr. Watkins is the Director of the Vivian A. and James L. Curtis Center for Health Equity Research and Training at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Since its establishment in 2008, the Curtis Center has been a catalyst for social change in underserved communities; all the while shaping the careers of budding scholars dedicated to ameliorating health and social disparities. Functioning as an interdisciplinary collaboration between University of Michigan faculty, community and university partners, and students, for over a decade the Curtis Center has had a positive impact upon the lives of those most in need. The mission of the Curtis Center is to stimulate research, training, and outreach opportunities that promote health equity by supporting work that deepens our understanding of the factors that lead to inequities and the strategies that eliminate them. The goals of the Curtis Center are 1) To advance the conduct and mobilization of research on health equity that impacts marginalized communities, 2) To establish fertile ground for health equity education and training for faculty, staff, and students, and 3) To build and sustain direct engagement with communities so that the center can generate real-world impact.
Dr. Watkins is the Founding Director of the Gender and Health Research Lab and the Certificate Program in Mixed Methods Research at University of Michigan. She is also the Founding Director of the Young Black Men, Masculinities, and Mental Health (YBMen) Project, an mental health education and social support initiative for young Black men. From 2013 to 2017, Watkins served as the first woman and African-American president of American Men’s Studies Association (AMSA).
As of January 2021, Watkins has an h-index score of 23 on Scopus and has drawn positive attention from outlets and organizations such as The Good Men Project. She teaches graduate-level courses on research methods; program evaluation; mixed methods; and racial, ethnic, and gender issues in community-based interventions. She also serves on committees and boards aimed at improving men’s health both domestically and globally.
Education.
Dr. Watkins received her undergraduate degree in Anthropology and French from University of North Carolina Wilmington in 2002, and earned her doctorate degree in Health Education and Promotion from Texas A&M University in 2006. She completed two postdoctoral fellowships before beginning her tenure-track faculty position, one was at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan and the other was at Michigan Medicine's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Research.
Dr. Watkins has been published in numerous outlets, with her research primarily focusing on “understanding the social determinants” of one’s health that can explain the differences within groups of black men. She aims to develop strategies and initiatives that improve the physical well-being and mental health of black men.
In 2012’s edition of the "American Journal of Men’s Health", Watkins published the article "Depression Over the Adult Life Course for African American Men: Toward a Framework for Research and Practice". In this, Watkins argues that the current empirical studies on depression among African-American men do not offer reasoning as to how or why the mental health disorder becomes present over the course of an African-American man’s adult life.
In 2013, Dr. Watkins’ guest editorial was featured in the article "Practical Solutions to Addressing Men’s Health Disparities", published in the "International Journal of Men’s Health". The editorial discusses the obvious gap that exists in men’s health research when it comes to how differences in health among men are explained. Dr. Watkins argues that there is a lack of conversation surrounding the potential solutions that can help prevent or eliminate the differences in health outcomes among certain groups of men, and uses diverse research methods to propose versatile solutions.
Published in the "International Journal of Qualitative Methods" in 2017, Dr. Watkins’ article "Rapid and Rigorous Qualitative Data Analysis: The “RADaR” Technique for Applied Research" examines a timely qualitative analysis strategy termed the ‘rigorous and accelerated data reduction (RADaR) technique’. This strategy involves using tables and spreadsheets for data reduction, which can help researcher's build more succinct data tables. The RADaR technique specifically converts raw data into a more ‘user-friendly format’.