If you want to know the power of youth voices and energy, look no further than 13-year-old rising star Amariyanna “Mari” Copeny. Amariyanna is an advocate and activist When major water quality concerns happened in her hometown of Flint, Michigan after the city had, switched its water supply from Detroit’s system to the Flint River, she sprang to action, writing a letter to President Obama prompting a presidential visit to Flint and $100 million dollars in relief.

Now known as “Little Miss Flint,” Amariyanna works to expose the consequences and threats of environmental racism to communities around the United States, through her own experience in Flint. She now produces her own water filter with Hydroviv. These are shipped all over the country to those in need of clean drinking water.

Dr. Elders was the first person in the state of Arkansas to become board-certified in pediatric endocrinology, and later the first Black person and second woman to head the U.S. Public Health Service when she was appointed surgeon general in 1993.

Dr. Elders, an endocrinologist, research in sexual behavior led to her fierce advocacy of adolescent and youth health. Observing the impacts of early pregnancy allowed her to have conversations with her patients that were considered ahead of their time and even controversial, but are now mainstream and considered optimal. Even when facing backlash, she stayed true to her views and values. Under her leadership as the head of the Arkansas Dept of Health, the state enacted a K-12 curriculum that included sex education, substance-use prevention, hygiene, and programs to promote self-esteem. Among her other accomplishments included nearly doubling childhood immunizations in Arkansas and expanding the state’s prenatal care program as well as advancing curricular and policy efforts for sex education and drug legalization.

In 1951, Henrietta Lacks was diagnosed with terminal cervical cancer and was treated by a doctor at Johns Hopkins, which at the time was one of the limited number of hospitals that would treat people of color. While Lacks died shortly after beginning treatment, it was observed that her cells were replicating rapidly and were essentially “immortal.” This made them perfect for biological research, and her cells became named “HeLa” (after her name). These important findings have been used in numerous research projects since then. Notably, her story facilitated the development of polio and HPV vaccines and was most recently used in research for vaccines against COVID-19.

Dr. Jones is a family physician, epidemiologist, and past president of the American Public Health Association and has dedicated her career to naming, measuring, and addressing the impacts of racism on the health and well-being of the United States. Through her work as a social epidemiologist and educator, she aims to broaden the health debate in the U.S. to include the social determinants of health, namely poverty, and the social determinants of equity, and racism. Dr. Jones’ allegories on race, racism, and health outcomes, including her famed “Gardner’s Tale,” illuminate topics that are otherwise difficult for many people to understand or discuss.

Dr. Jones was also the recipient of the Richard and Barbara Hansen Leadership Award in 2017 here in the College of Public Health! Watch her lecture on “Achieving Health Equity: Tools for a National Campaign Against Racism” here.

A civil rights activist, Pan-Africanist, sociologist, and historian, Du Bois led early work and advocacy surrounding health disparities among Black populations when compared with white populations derived from social conditions rather than racial traits. He went on to complete an influential sociological study of a Black community in the U.S., “The Philadelphia Negro,” where he found that racial differences in health reflect differences in social conditions and advancement. This research is foundational in efforts around social determinants of health, and he is widely viewed as a pioneer in the field of social epidemiology.

Onesimus was a North African man who was kidnapped from his homeland and sold into slavery in Massachusetts. In the early eighteenth century, Massachusetts was being ravaged by epidemics of smallpox. Onesimus shared his knowledge on the basics of smallpox inoculation which at the time was a practice that was already common in Asia and Africa. This was a technique that wasn’t known to doctors in Massachusetts at the time and was met with resistance. However, it was found that the method that he shared (putting pus from an infected person into the broken skin of an uninfected person) was highly effective, and because of his wisdom, it saved thousands of lives at the time and he should be rightfully known as the great mind that brought inoculation to the United States.

A virologist from Cameroon, Dr. Nkengasong was the first director of the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) where he led the organization’s mission to support African nations in strengthening their public health systems. With Dr. Nkengasong’s expertise, Africa CDC and its partners have played a critical role in Africa’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic by distributing tests, strengthening capacity within countries, and advancing the vaccine rollout.

The 35-year-old viral immunologist and research fellow at the Vaccine Research Center of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is the lead scientist on the team that developed the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Dr. Corbett also speaks publicly and words alongside Black leaders to help build trust in COVID-19 vaccines among Black communities, who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic but are mistrustful of medical institutions, given the historical legacies of racist policies and practices.

Dr. Corbett’s lifelong passion for scientific research began when she was a high school sophomore and interned at a chemistry lab at the University of North Carolina, where she later earned her Ph.D. While there, she met scientists and researchers who furthered her passion for science. Now, in addition to her research at the Vaccine Research Center, where she has been since 2014, she spends much of her time mentoring young women, particularly young women of color, in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.

Ms. Johnson was one of the most prominent figures in the Stonewall uprising of 1969. Her important advocacy for homeless LGBTQ+ youth, those affected by HIV and AIDS, and gay and transgender rights led to a series of protests after Stonewall and galvanized the gay rights movement. She helped form Street Transgender Action Revolutionaries (STAR), a radical political organization that provided housing and other forms of support to homeless queer youth and sex workers in Manhattan. She also performed with the drag performance troupe Hot Peaches from 1972 through the ‘90s and was an AIDS activist with AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP). 

Nakate grew up in Kampala, Uganda, a city heavily affected by climate change. Finding inspiration from the global “Fridays for Future” climate strikes, in January 2019 Nakate began to strike outside of Uganda’s Parliament. While she was alone in the strikes initially, soon others started to show up and take a stand. She went on to lead dozens of Fridays for Future protests which led to founding Youth for Future Africa and the Rise Up Movement. The Rise Up Movement helps amplify and strengthen the voices of African activists, especially those who are demanding climate action. 

Bobby Seale was also a public health advocate working for improved health outcomes in Black communities.  With a goal in mind to increase access to health care for Black people and reduce disparities, Seale instructed all Black Panther Party chapters to open health care clinics called People’s Free Medical Clinics. His work and community efforts brought much-needed exposure and led to the passage of the National Sickle Cell Anemia Control Act of 1972, which amped up testing and treatment. He also was known for leading the efforts to expand the Black Panther Party’s Ten Point Program to include a vision to improve Black people’s health: “We want completely free health care for all Black and oppressed people.”

Dr. Crumpler was the first Black woman in the U.S. to earn an M.D. degree and among the first Black physicians to publish a medical book.

After the Civil War, Dr. Crumpler moved to Richmond, Virginia, where she worked alongside other Black doctors in the Freedmen’s Bureau to care for people who were formerly enslaved, many of whom were refused treatment by white physicians. She later became one of the first Black physicians to publish a medical book, “A Book of Medical Discourses: In Two Parts,” which addressed children’s and women’s health. 

Dr. Drew, also known as the “Father of the Blood Bank,” was a surgeon and researcher who advanced the science of storing blood plasma for long periods of time for use in transfusions. At Freedmen’s Hospital at Howard University’s teaching hospital, he was able to find out how to separate plasma from blood, which would make it possible for it to be stored for longer periods of time than had been possible before. His discovery that transfusions could be performed with plasma alone effectively opened the door to treating others who may not have been able to be treated previously. He went on to become the first African American to earn a medical doctorate from Columbia University.

As a highly regarded cardiac surgeon, Thomas developed a procedure to treat the congenital heart defect that caused blue baby syndrome. Thomas’ work in cardiovascular and cardiac surgery challenged medical taboos at the time about invasive techniques on the heart. While at Johns Hopkins, Thomas co-created a method to correct a congenital heart defect, Tetralogy of Fallot, which is a primary cause of blue baby syndrome. While the procedure was his technique, Thomas did not receive any credit for the research that followed until decades later. His surgery has since saved the lives of thousands of children, correcting the lack of oxygen in the blood that turns a seemingly healthy pink baby a distressing shade of blue.