70: Making Health Equity Actionable in Public Health + Healthcare with Dr. Lauren R. Powell, MPA, PhD

Interview with Dr. Lauren R. Powell, MPA, PhD

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Highlights from this episode:

1. Talking all things health equity and public health
2. Taking roles to support policy, health equity, and women’s health
3. Founding The Equitist to make health equity more actionable
4. Working in health equity positions at Department of Health

Episode 70 of Public Health Careers

Dr. Lauren R. Powell, MPA, PhD is the President & CEO of The Equitist as well as the Vice President for US Health Equity & Community Wellness at Takeda Pharmaceuticals.

She is someone who helps systems and leaders move from health equity in theory, to health equity in action by noticing and intervening on how racism and other oppressive forces operate within themselves and their systems. She is a 2020 Fortune Magazine 40 Under 40 in Health Care as well as was a 2020 de Beaumont Foundation 40 Under 40 in Public Health.

Lauren began her collegiate career at Xavier University of Louisiana where she majored in Biochemistry and double minored in Mathematics and Biology. Lauren depicts what is was like being a student in Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina and how she overcame this traumatic event.

Lauren went on to work clinical jobs after graduating. She worked as a Clinical Research Coordinator at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, then a Research Program Coordinator in Women’s Health and Research Programs at Johns Hopkins Medicine and a Clinical Research Coordinator at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Afterwards, Lauren decided she wanted to pursue a PhD in Clinical & Population Health Research at University of Massachusetts Medical School which she was able to complete after 3 years. Lauren was a Boston Albert Schweitzer Fellow. She then went on to be a Research Assistant at Harvard University and then a Visiting Research Fellow for the Office of Health Disparities Research at Mayo Clinic and finally a Graduate Research Assistant at University of Massachusetts Medical School.

Lauren then decided to pursue a Mid-Career Master of Public Administration in Management as well as got a Leadership & Decision Sciences Certificate at the Harvard Kennedy School. During this time she was a Sheila C. Johnson Leadership Fellow and also took part in the Harvard Square to Oval Office Women & Public Policy Program. During her PhD, she also dabbled in some consulting.

She was a Health Equity Strategist Consultant at Cambridge Health Alliance. Lauren then moved into the position of Director at the Office of Health Equity at the Virginia Department of Health. She then transitioned into the role of Vice President, Head of Health Care Industry at TIME’S UP.

Lauren is currently the President & CEO at The Equitist, a boutique firm focused on moving health care organizations from health equity in theory to action. Lauren is also the Vice President of US Health Equity & Community Wellness at Takeda Pharmaceuticals which you will realize is a full circle moment for her in her career.