She holds joint faculty appointments in the Departments of Epidemiology and Health Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Dr. Purnell is a Core Faculty member of the Epidemiology Research Group in Organ Transplantation, the Associate Director for Education and Training at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Equity, and a Core Faculty member of the Welch Center for Prevention, Epidemiology and Clinical Research. Her research focuses on identifying patient-centered and community-engaged solutions to address disparities in access to and quality of care for patients with kidney disease and related risk factors, including diabetes and hypertension. Her course, "Applications of Innovative Methods in Health Equity Research," is offered through the Department of Health Behavior and Society.