Dr. Rakale Collins Quarells is a Behavioral Scientist and a Professor of Community Health and Preventive Medicine at the Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM). She also has an adjunct Professor appointment in the Department of Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences in the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University.  Her primary research focuses on utilizing community engagement to enhance the prevention and self-management of chronic diseases (including cardiovascular diseases, type 2 diabetes, and epilepsy) among Black and Latinx communities.  She has received both private and federal funding to support her research and community engagement activities. Dr. Quarells also serves as the Course Director for the Georgia CTSA’s joint course, Community Engagement and Health Disparities in Clinical and Translational Research, for students from MSM, Emory University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and University of Georgia.

Dr. Quarells joined MSM in July 2000 following the completion of a two-year Postdoctoral Fellowship in Chronic Disease Epidemiology and Prevention at the Stanford Prevention Research Center in the Stanford University School of Medicine.  Dr. Quarells received her Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in personality psychology from Howard University in Washington, D.C. 

Dr. Quarells is married to Dr. Carlton Quarells and has two children.