Yerby Diversity Lecture in Public Health: Linda Alexander, EdD

“Toppling Statues in Academic Public Health”

Speakers

Michelle A. Williams, SM, ScD, Dean of the Faculty, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Angelopoulos Professor in Public Health and International Development, Harvard Chan School and Harvard Kennedy School

Linda A. Alexander, EdD, Chief Academic Officer, Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH)

Registration

Register for free to attend the March 23 livestream. The lecture will be recorded and available for viewing after the event.

About Linda Alexander

Linda Alexander, EdD, serves as the Chief Academic Officer for the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH). She is responsible for the overall mission of ASPPH as the lead academic officer for program initiatives, activities that support education, accreditation, practice, professional development, workforce development and data management. In her role she works collaboratively with ASPPH members, stakeholders, academic and practice national and global partner organizations and institutions, to enhance educational excellence to prepare and strengthen the public health workforce. Additionally, her leadership in the organization is to operationalize the goals of the ASPPH Strategic Plan 2030 through the oversight for racial ethnic and geographic diversity as part of the organization’s goals and by supporting member schools and programs in efforts toward diversity, equity, inclusion, and social justice. Prior to becoming Chief Academic Officer in 2022, Dr. Alexander amassed a demonstrable track record as a Primary Representative to ASPPH and contributed significantly as chair or co-chair for efforts directly related to the advancement of training in cultural competence, establishing learning and learner environments free from discrimination and harassment, and co-authoring a framework that provides a blueprint for dismantling structural racism in academic settings.

Dr. Alexander holds more than 30 years of strategic leadership, engagement, and collaborative partnerships with federal, state and local organizations in advancing science, informing policies and preparing the workforce through roles in academia, federal agencies, and community-based non-government organizations. Her oversight as academic dean for two CEPH-accredited schools of public health was to ensure competencies, skills, and practice experiences for graduates to transition discipline specific public health content from academic settings to the applied practice required by the public health workforce. As part of her academic trajectory, Dr. Alexander contributed significantly to the field of tobacco-related health disparities and FDA regulatory science through her roles as a Principal Investigator on federally funded grants and contracts and a myriad of publications, as a founding member of the Tobacco Research Network on Disparities (TReND), and as Senior Volume Editor for the National Cancer Institute’s Monograph 22. The collective wisdom from her cumulative work in teaching, research, and practice has been extraordinarily relevant during the nation’s COVID pandemic. In the fall of 2020, Dr. Alexander was appointed to serve on the West Virginia COVID-19 Medical Advisory Group to facilitate communication for rural, ethnic, and geographically underserved populations in the state. This appointment provided a unique and critical lens to the myriad of capacity issues, challenges and gaps for the current public health workforce, a snapshot of training needs among public health and clinical practitioners, and the active role of racism in the public’s perception of health, medicine, and wellness.

About the Yerby Diversity Lecture

Named in honor of Dr. Alonzo Smythe Yerby, an African American pioneer in public health, the Yerby Diversity Lecture in Public Health brings distinguished minority scientists and scholars to the Harvard Chan School to speak on important health topics. All lectures are open to the public.