Alum Named Deputy Chief of Policy for Mayor of Boston.
Alum Named Deputy Chief of Policy for Mayor of Boston
SPH alum Lindsey Butler aims to ensure public health is placed at the center of all policy work.
School of Public Health alum Lindsey Butler (SPH’15,’21) has been named Deputy Chief of Policy for Kim Janey, acting mayor of Boston. In this role, Butler sits under Mary Churchill, Chief of Policy and Planning and associate dean for strategic initiatives and community engagement at the Boston University Wheelock College of Education & Human Development.
Janey was sworn in as the acting mayor of Boston on March 24, replacing Marty Walsh, who resigned to serve as President Joe Biden’s labor secretary. She is both the first woman and the first Black mayor of the City of Boston.
On the day of Janey’s historic swearing in, Butler says she had never seen a moment like this before. Janey stood at the podium with Justice Kimberly Budd, the first Black woman to lead the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, and US Representative Ayanna Pressley, the first Black woman to be elected to Congress from Massachusetts, by her side.
“I hope that the weight of this moment is reflected in the policies that come out of this office,” says Butler. “It is a new day for Boston, a more inclusive and equitable day.”
An environmental epidemiologist by training, Butler came to SPH in 2012 for her Master of Science degree in environmental health. After graduating in 2015, she stayed at SPH to pursue her Ph.D. in environmental health with a major in epidemiology and a minor in biostatistics and exposure assessment.
Originally interested in the impact of environmental pollution on health, it was during her time in the BU Graduate Program in Urban Biogeoscience and Environmental Health, that Butler says her eyes were opened to the role that city governments play in solving urban problems.
“When you study the environment that makes someone sick, it’s so much more than the pollutants; it’s their experience with racism. It’s the fabric of their community. It’s their economic situation. It’s their educational opportunities,” says Butler. “This holistic understanding of what environment and exposure actually mean has really shaped the way I think about public health.”
Butler hopes to bring this nuanced perspective to her new role, where she will prioritize placing public health at the center of all policy work.
“The silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic, if we can say that there is one, is that people appreciate how integral public health is to our society ,” says Butler. “If we don’t have the public’s health, we really don’t have anything.”
COVID-19 prevention and equitable distribution of the vaccine across the city are central priorities for Butler, but she also recognizes that Boston—and the country, as a whole—is navigating many co-occurring crises at once.
From racial injustices and a long overdue racial reckoning, to economic and educational crises exacerbated by the pandemic, to climate change, “we need to have a public health scientist at the table as we re-emerge,” she says.
While at SPH, Butler learned there is often a disconnect between the science that is done in an academic setting and policy. But she believes that local government is a great place to bridge these gaps. “I hope that by having one foot in academic science and one foot in city government I can make sure that the excellent science that is being done makes it into our policies,” she says.
“It is an enormous privilege to take my specialized public health training from SPH and bring it to City Hall, and it is an honor to serve Mayor Janey and the city I love during such a difficult time for so many Bostonians.”