social justice

Justice, Equity, and Racism

Social justice, health equity, and antiracism, are foundational frameworks for public health, says Craig Andrade (SPH’06,11).

An alum of the MPH and DrPH programs, Andrade returned to the School of Public Health in June as the associate dean for practice and director of the Activist Lab, taking the reins from Harold Cox, associate professor of community health sciences, who had served in both positions for 14 years (page 56).

Andrade assumed his new role exactly one week after the Memorial Day death of George Floyd sparked a national reckoning with systemic racism, fueling international protests against police brutality and invigorating the Black Lives Matter movement—all amidst an unprecedented pandemic that continues to disproportionately impact Black lives.

“The COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath of racial inequities, and the murder of George Floyd by the knee of a Minneapolis police officer, made what for hundreds of years has been a Black problem personal for all of us,” Andrade says. These challenges “motivate what I do and how I think, and they intersect with the spirit of the school that drew me here again—a spirit of deep commitment to a foundation of social and economic justice, and one that informs all of our actions in Think. Teach. Do.”

Andrade brought more than 30 years of experience in clinical care, health promotion, health administration, health education, and state government to SPH. He began his career as a critical care and public health nurse at Boston Medical Center in the late eighties before shifting to opportunities that would allow him to address the underlying causes of poor health. A licensed massage therapist and athletic trainer, Andrade led health and wellness and nursing programs at private schools and colleges before obtaining his public health degrees, aiming to gain a deeper knowledge of population-level health approaches that build resilience among children and adolescents, particularly LGBTQ youth, youth of color, and youth with disabilities.

He served in several leadership positions at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health—most recently as director of the Bureau of Family Health & Nutrition—and was a founding member of the department’s Bureau of Community Health & Prevention’s Racial Equity Leadership Team.

The goal remains “to dismantle the vestiges of structural racism and to make sure that those who are less seen and less heard have more agency and are able to be the best of who they want to be,” he says. “Good public health practitioners build strong community relationships over time, based on kinship, respect, honest communication, and mutual learning and leading. When you mix a big challenge with good people, good public health, and hard work, transformation happens.”

Determined to help bring health equity and racial justice efforts to fruition through the work of the Activist Lab and its programming and partnerships within the school, University, and surrounding community, Andrade made an immediate impact in his first week by serving as a panelist during the school’s June 3 Conversation on Race and Policing Signature Program and leading SPH’s annual #WearOrange campaign on National Gun Violence Awareness Day two days later. He continues to explore a number of opportunities, from elevating the lab’s Activist Bucks mini-grant program to a global level, to discovering new ways to better infuse social justice and racial equity principles into every element of the school.

“SPH’s dedication to action represents an opportunity for me to return to my roots, and to contribute to a vision that I fully believe in,” he says. “I continue to think about how we can harness this moment of social and racial reckoning to reinvigorate and redefine the work of SPH in research, education, and practice.”