Who We Are and What We Do

Everyone has the right to live the healthiest life possible — though this is still not the reality for people in far too many communities.

Giving every community an equitable chance at being healthy means looking beyond medical care alone. There are persistent political, economic, racial, and social inequities and injustices that affect all the sectors that serve our communities and have a disproportionate impact on the health of under-resourced communities. These sectors range from education and transportation to urban planning and environmental health. Achieving health justice means digging up the common roots of these injustices — including racism, classism, and sexism— and making sure our policies are oriented toward an equitable opportunity for health for all.

The AAMC Center for Health Justice is a space to come out of our siloes and work together. We cannot achieve health equity by working alone. The AAMC is committed to partnering with other organizations, community leaders, and community members to develop this important effort. We build authentic collaborations and an aligned agenda for better health, ensuring all voices in a community are heard.

We believe that the process — how we work with communities — is just as important as the product that comes out of this work. That is what will make a difference. Taken separately, we are diverse sectors and individuals. Working together, we are a movement to improve the health of people and communities everywhere.

What We Do

The Center for Health Justice collaborates with public health and community-based organizations, government and health care entities, the private sector, community leaders, and community members.

The center builds a case for health justice through research, analysis, and collaborations that drive our efforts to build a better future.

Engage the Health Justice Community

• Continue our work alongside AAMC CHARGE (the Collaborative for Health Equity: Act, Research, Generate Evidence), an interprofessional and cross-disciplinary group of health equity scholars and champions from across the United States.
• Collaborate with the Multisector Partner Group, where national leaders, local leaders from community-based organizations, and community organizers from 10 sectors representing the diverse social and political determinants of health convene to determine the center’s priorities and strategy.
• Convene experts, policymakers, and community members to examine health inequities data and act together to address these inequities. 
• Respond to requests for stakeholder engagement and provide important insight to federal agencies that work toward and fund health equity. 

Build Evidence and Share Expertise

• Conduct nationally representative opinion polling to learn how the public feels about health equity and justice.
• Produce original research and analysis to build support for policy and practice changes that have a systemic impact. 
• Provide funding for on-the-ground partnerships, evidence-building, and implementation of interventions for health equity.

Ease the Path to Health Equity

• Equip organizations both inside and outside of health care with the tools they need to become trustworthy partners to their communities.
• Guide institutions toward a deeper understanding of equity-focused, person-first language and narratives and why these choices matter. 
• Develop tools to help institutions and community organizations communicate with each other about their health equity work and form sustainable, effective, co-equal partnerships.