About the Director
Dr. Brian K. Gibbs is a Senior Research Scientist in Public Health Practice and the Director of the Program to Eliminate Health Disparities (PEHD) in the Department of Health Policy & Management at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). In collaboration with community-based organizations, health centers, activists, educators, schools, and youth service programs, the objective of PEHD is to transform factors contributing to poor health outcomes among residents of Roxbury, MA and other communities of color throughout the nation into pathways for equitable health and life opportunities.
Since 1990, Dr. Gibbs has participated in a range of research and evaluation activities in the area of minority health, health disparities and adolescent violence prevention. He has conceptualized a model for eliminating health disparities involving social transformation and public health practice and presented it at the American Public Health Association annual meetings, the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust, the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health, the New England Regional Minority Health Conference, the State of Black Massachusetts Conference and many other forums for professional colleagues, students and community members.
Most recently, Dr. Gibbs was named project director for the HORIZON Center (Center for Healthy Options, Research, Interventions, and Community Organizing), a community-based exploratory research center for health and health care disparities funded by the National Institutes of Health's Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIH-NCMHD EXPORT Center). The HORIZON Center's four core missions, as well as its research and pilot projects, are all designed to strengthen the evidence-based practices and strategies for understanding and training practitioners in reducing health disparities. He also leads Cherishing Our Hearts and Souls, a coalition of over 150 organizations and individuals established to educate communities, providers and policy makers about the intersections of racism and health.
He also served as project director for the NIH-NCMHD EXPORT Center for Healthy Options and Community Empowerment (CHOICE), a partnership involving Florida A&M University and HSPH. CHOICE uses research, training, community partnerships, coalition building and social transformation to create models for eliminating health disparities in both rural and urban communities.
In 1999, as a senior consultant with Ayers and Associates, Crystal City, VA, Dr. Gibbs conducted background research for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Millennium Scholars Program, a scholarship initiative granting scholarships to at least 1,000 high school students of color per year over the next 20 years. Dr. Gibbs currently serves as a consultant to the National Coalition of Survivors for Violence Prevention, Inc., a diverse group of organizations and individuals dedicated to providing a united voice for sibling survivors, and as Co-chair of the New England Coalition for Health Equity Steering Committee.