Biography

As a activist/researcher/scholar, Laurie Nsiah-Jefferson has always been passionate about her son, women of color, and health status and health care inequities. Her vision for women of color is that they are content, fulfilled, healed and empowered. The goal of her most recent research project was to evaluate the application of a “race and gender neutral” policy on race and gender inequities in cardiovascular disease. Another recent study proposed alternative and more appropriate mechanisms to address healthcare inequities for African-American women, through innovative applications of intersectional research and policy specifically geared to their needs. Prior to returning to Brandeis she was a H. Jack Geiger Congressional Fellow working with the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust, the leading Congressional office addressing health and health care issues for African-Americans. Prior to this appointment she as a W.K. Kellogg Fellow in Health Policy Research, the Director of Health Disparities at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, a Policy Analyst at the Civil Rights Project at Harvard, and a Research Scientist in State government. She has also consulted for several organizations across the country on health and health care disparities, cultural competency, work force diversity and minority and women’s health. She lecturers and publishes extensively on these topics.