The Cultural Health Lab

Researching How Cultural Environments Shape Wellness, Human Development, and Human Flourishing

Advancing the science of how educational, institutional, and community environments shape wellness and human flourishing through interdisciplinary research. 

The Cultural Health Lab is an interdisciplinary research laboratory dedicated to advancing the science of cultural health by understanding how educational, institutional, and community environments shape wellness, human development, and human flourishing. Through rigorous scholarship, student mentorship, and community partnership, the lab conducts multidisciplinary research, develops evidence-based interventions, and translates scientific knowledge into strategies that promote healthier environments and expand opportunities for individuals and communities to thrive. 

"We believe that the environments people inhabit shape their capacity to thrive."

— Franklin Dickerson Turner, Ph.D.

The Cultural Health Lab investigates how cultural, institutional, and community environments shape psychological, behavioral, and physiological well-being across diverse populations. Guided by Multicultural Distress Theory, our research examines how environments influence stress, self-regulation, health behaviors, belonging, and human development while identifying pathways that promote resilience, opportunity, and human flourishing. Through research, the lab integrates psychological, physiological, qualitative, and intervention-based approaches to generate knowledge that informs policy, practice, and culturally grounded solutions.

Dr. Franklin Dickerson Turner is an educational psychologist and public health scholar whose research examines how cultural and institutional environments shape psychological, behavioral, and physiological well-being. He is the developer of Multicultural Distress Theory and founding director of The Cultural Health Lab, where he leads a research program on cultural environments, wellness, human development, and human flourishing. Through research, teaching, and community partnerships, Dr. Turner develops empirically supported approaches that promote health, opportunity, and thriving across diverse communities.

The Cultural Health Lab advances theory-driven and community-engaged research to understand how cultural environments shape wellness, human development, and human flourishing. Through research, education, and partnership, the lab develops scientifically grounded strategies that promote health, opportunity, and thriving across diverse communities.

Our vision is a world where educational, organizational, and community environments foster health, belonging, opportunity, and human flourishing for all. Through innovative research and collaborative partnerships, The Cultural Health Lab seeks to advance the science of cultural health and inform policies and practices that create more supportive and equitable environments.