This Public Health Conversation Starter features Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) in conversation with BUSPH Dean Sandro Galea. Congresswoman Pressley talks about her career in public service, the importance of a holistic approach to advance the health of our communities, and advice she has for the younger generation about how to create a better world for all.

Our Conversation Starters engage leading thinkers in conversation around issues of consequence in public health.

Speakers

Ayanna Pressley

Congresswoman (MA-07)

Ayanna Pressley

Congresswoman (MA-07)

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) is an activist, a legislator, a survivor, and the first woman of color to be elected to Congress from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Throughout her career as a public servant, Congresswoman Pressley has fought to ensure that those closest to the pain are closest to the power – driving and informing policymaking.

Throughout her time in Congress, Congresswoman Pressley has been a champion for justice and healing: reproductive justice, justice for immigrants, consumer justice, justice for seniors, justice for workers, justice for survivors of sexual violence, justice for the formerly and currently incarcerated individuals, and healing for those who have experienced trauma.

In 2020, Congresswoman Pressley bravely revealed her experience living with alopecia — an autoimmune disease that causes sudden hair loss and impacts more than 7 million Americans—disproportionately children and Black women.

Representative Pressley has turned her lived experience into action, becoming a leading voice fighting to raise awareness and support for the Alopecian community across the nation.

Currently, Congresswoman Pressley serves on the powerful House Committee on Financial Services, which remains focused on legislatively addressing issues of care, concern, and consequence to the American people. Prior to being elected to Congress, she served on the Boston City Council for eight years and was the first woman of color elected to the council in its 100-year history.