Keri Norris received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Africana Studies (with a focus on Sociology and History) from Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga. Her first hands-on experience in public health research was from an Internship with Alonzo Herndon at The Herndon Home Museum where she did an analysis on trends in causes of death among southern blacks, using life insurance claims from the original ledgers. While completing the internship, her interest in the social determinants of health was born.

Keri was accepted into the Morehouse School of Medicine Master of Public Health Program in 2002. During her matriculation, she was active in the MPH Student Association and a Fellow in Bridges to the Doctorate Program ‚ a collaboration between MSM/MPH Program and the University of Michigan. During Summer 2003, she received additional public health training at the University of Michigan through the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research program. Keri worked on several research projects with her mentor, Dr. Amy Schultz, and the East Side Village Health Worker Partnership program. Her research examined social determinants of health, stress and coping within low-income African-American women residing on the east side of Detroit, Mich. Keri completed the MPH in Health Administration and Policy in 2004 and received both the Bill Jenkins MPH Achievement Award and the Dean's Community Service Award.

Keri was accepted to the doctoral program at the University of South Carolina (USC) in 2004. During her doctoral matriculation, she also completed a certificate of graduate study in Women's Studies. She was the recipient of various scholarships, fellowships, and graduate research assistantships. Keri also presented at various conferences, won several awards and was an active student leader. She also taught an undergraduate course at USC in Women's Health. She successfully defended her dissertation, "Exploring Sojourner Syndrome: An Examination of Stress, Hypertension and Coping Among Black Women," for which she won the Emily Thompson Award for best research in Women's Health. In 2007, she was granted the PhD in Health Promotion, Education, and Behavior, with a focus on Women's Health and Health Disparities.

Keri is currently an ORISE Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Diabetes Translation, where she is being trained in epidemiology with the Vision Health Initiative. She also is part of the adjunct faculty at Spelman College (Comparative Women's Studies Program) and Morehouse School of Medicine's MPH Program. She embraces both academia and research and plans to continue focusing her research in the areas of women's health, health disparities and chronic disease.