The director of Baylor ISR’s Program on Religion and Population Health (PRPH), Dr. Jeff Levin, has a strong professional interest in the contribution of Jewish religious belief and practice to personal and population health and well-being.  This is an important focus of work for PRPH, and is principally engaged through two ongoing projects:

1. Global research on patterns and predictors of Jewish health and well-being:  Through access to various national and international data sources, such as the Gallup World Poll (GWP) and other probability surveys, a series of analyses is documenting the health and general well-being of Jewish respondents in the U.S., in Israel, and in the non-U.S. diaspora.  This ongoing work has been instrumental in constructing a health and well-being profile of the world’s Jewish population, as well as in extending ongoing research on religious influences on physical and mental health to this religious group.

2. Archive of Judaism and Health Research: A principal product of Dr. Levin’s work in this area has been the creation of an online archive of scholarship on Judaism, health and healing.  Developed in conjunction with the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, with funding from the John Templeton Foundation (JTF), the Archive (AJHR) is a web-based collection of published and unpublished scholarship on this subject.  It  provides “one-stop-shopping” for researchers, academics, rabbis, and Jewish professionals and laypeople with interest in topics at the intersection of Judaism and health.

For more information on the GWP, visit http://www.gallup.com/strategicconsulting/en-us/worldpoll.aspx.

For more information on JTF, visit http://www.templeton.org/.

For more information on the AJHR, visit http://www.ajhr.org/.