About
We translate research into real-world impact, through evidence-based communications, advocacy, and policy engagement strategies. A home for partnerships, programs, and practice that drive progress on public health, the Lerner Center inspires bold action for public health equity, access, and impact.
Our Vision
A diverse, dynamic field of advocates ready to solve the greatest public health challenges of our time.
Our Mission
Build and support the field of public health advocacy through excellence in partnerships, teaching, and practice that inspires action on our greatest public health challenges. Rooted in evidence and rigor, our programming drives action that demonstrably prevents diseases, promotes equity, and improves public health impact.
Our Team
Shelley Hearne, DrPH
Director
Lerner Center for Public Health Advocacy
Deans Sommer and Klag Professor of the Practice in Public Health Advocacy
Diane Coraggio, MHS
Chief of Staff
Lerner Center for Public Health Advocacy
Amber-Ray Davidson, MS
Communications Associate
Lerner Center for Public Health Advocacy
Meghan Ames, MSPH, RD
Education Program Manager
Lerner Center for Public Health Advocacy
Martha Ruffin
Program Coordinator
Lerner Center for Public Health Advocacy
Avéon Laine
Communications Specialist
Lerner Center for Public Health Advocacy
Chanel Britt
Sr. Administrative Coordinator
Department of Health Policy and Management
Affiliated Faculty
Julia Wolfson, PhD '16, MPP, studies individual, structural, and policy factors that influence food choices, diet quality, and diet-related health outcomes.
Jon Vernick, JD, MPH '94, promotes and evaluates the ways the law can be used as a tool to promote public health, particularly in the areas of injury and violence prevention.
Michelle Spencer, MS, is a public health practitioner who focuses on the impacts of health equity, racial disparities, and health outcomes through community-based initiatives.
Anthony D. So, MD, MPA, works on research and policy to improve innovation and access to health technologies with a particular focus on antimicrobial resistance.
Joshua Sharfstein, MD, works to develop and promote public health strategies, healthcare payment approaches, and regulatory policies that advance health and equity.
Lainie Rutkow, JD, PhD '09, MPH '05, uses research to determine how the law can protect and promote the health of populations.
Joanne Rosen, JD, MA, studies the impact of law and policy on sexual and reproductive health, access to abortion, and sexual and gender minority communities.
Beth Resnick, DrPH, MPH ’95, conducts systems research to transform state and local public health agencies by strengthening infrastructure and stimulating performance improvement.
Lois Privor-Dumm, MBA, works to expand access to vaccines, trains advocates to speak on the value of immunization, and evaluates the use of policy to protect communities.
Keshia Pollack Porter, PhD '06, MPH, uses research to advance policies that promote health equity, especially where people live, work, play, and travel.
Paul Locke, DrPH '98, MPH, JD, is a scientist and lawyer who researches, designs, and implements evidence-based policies to improve public health and protect the environment.
Rupali Limaye, PhD ’12, MPH, MA, studies how health information can best be communicated to individuals in different contexts and through different channels.
Celia Karp, PhD ’20, investigates reproductive empowerment, access to quality health care, and availability and use of maternal and reproductive health services.
Shannon Frattaroli, PhD '99, MPH '94, translates evidence about injury and violence prevention into policies and practices that will create safe places for people to thrive.
Cyrus Engineer, DrPH, '07, MHS '03, MHA, is a practice leader in health sector performance management, including quality, patient safety, and project management.
Joanna Cohen, PhD, MHSc, conducts research and capacity building to inform and advance interventions to reduce tobacco-caused death and disease.
Robert Blum, MD, PhD, MPH, studies adolescent health worldwide, with a focus on gender socialization in early adolescence and how it shapes health and wellness.
David Bishai, MPH, PhD, MD, advances the practice of public health by studying and teaching how it is financed and how it saves lives in the world's national, state, and local health departments.
Sara Benjamin-Neelon, PhD, JD, MPH, is an attorney and child nutritionist who examines early life predictors of obesity and other chronic diseases with a health equity lens.
Gerard Anderson, PhD, works with policymakers to control health care spending.