Duke Sanford Black Policy Conference
Public Health and Environmental Justice Panels
Redlining to Greenlining: Reimagining Black Mobility, Medicine & Environmental Justice
We are super excited to share panelists and workshops soon! See below for some panelists and workshop leads!
The Politicization of Health Care Panel
Jovita Lee, Ed.D, M.P.A, PgD Program Director, NC Black Alliance, Policy Director, Advance Carolina
Dr. Jovita Lee is the program director for North Carolina Black Alliance, making history as the youngest incoming director in the organization’s history. She also serves as Policy Director for Advance Carolina and convener of the North Carolina Black and Brown Policy Network. Her advocacy and policy work focuses on environmental justice for Black and Brown communities, operating on both state and national levels. Her efforts intentionally highlight the intersection of justice work. As a testament to her impact, she was awarded the 2024 Steve Wing International Environmental Justice Award. Dr. Lee is also an appointed member of the Governor’s Environmental Justice Advisory Council. In addition, Dr. Lee serves on the boards for NC Budget and Tax Center, North Carolina For the People, Lead NC, MAAME Inc., and Spiritual Learners and was recently the senior environmental justice organizer for the Center for Biological Diversity and the Center Action Fund. Dr. Lee is also an adjunct professor of Sociology at Meredith College and co-founder of the Meredith College Black Alumnae Collective. A North Carolina native, Dr. Lee holds a B.A. in International Studies and a PgD in Business Administration from Meredith College, an M.P.A. from North Carolina Central University, and an Ed.D. in organizational leadership from Gardner-Webb University. She is also a proud member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
Senator Natalie Murdock
Senator Natalie S. Murdock (D-20) represents Durham and Chatham Counties in the North Carolina Senate. A native North Carolinian, UNC–Chapel Hill alum, and former local elected official, she has spent her life learning about the strengths and challenges of North Carolina and has committed her career to public service.
Elected in 2020 with over 100,000 votes, Senator Murdock made history as the first woman of color under 40 elected to the North Carolina General Assembly. Serving over three terms, she has filed hundreds of bills advancing a progressive agenda focused on Black maternal health, economic development, environmental protection, healthcare access for all, and expanded access to the ballot.
Senator Murdock previously served as Deputy Director of Communications at the North Carolina Department of Justice, Director of Communications for GoTriangle, and as a Durham County Soil and Water Conservation District Supervisor. She also founded Murdock Anderson Consulting, specializing in civic engagement and strategic planning.
She currently serves as the 2nd Vice President for NOBEL Women, sits on the Executive Board of the North Carolina Legislative Black Caucus, and serves on boards at UNC–Chapel Hill. Her leadership has earned recognition from the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, March of Dimes, and the NC ERA Alliance, and she has been featured in Essence Magazine for her work on Black maternal health.
J. Donté Prayer
J. Donté Prayer is a distinguished public health professional, Program Manager at the Center for Black Health and Equity, consultant, and researcher who is widely recognized for his leadership and impact across the healthcare and social justice landscape. A proud product of Elizabeth City State University and Hampton University, he is currently pursuing dual graduate credentials at Morehouse School of Medicine, further strengthening his academic foundation and lifelong commitment to advancing health equity. He has been selected to participate in several highly competitive public health cohorts and fellowships and was honored as a recipient of the Elizabeth City State University Forty Under Forty distinction in recognition of his outstanding leadership and service. His work has earned national and international recognition for excellence and innovation within the healthcare space.
Throughout his career, he has served in impactful roles focused on community engagement, HIV prevention, health education, linkage to care, and systems level advocacy, including leadership on major research and community initiatives that address disparities among marginalized populations. He continues to serve on councils, boards, and collaborative bodies dedicated to improving outcomes and expanding access to care, while maintaining strong partnerships that strengthen community driven solutions. He is also a proud member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, and remains deeply committed to service, achievement, and uplifting communities through purpose driven leadership.
Andrea Thoumi, MPP, MSc
Andrea Thoumi, MPP, MSc is a population health scientist dedicated to improving Latine health equity. As a bilingual and bicultural researcher, her work aims to reduce health inequities by generating community-engaged evidence to change policy and clinical practice while centering community perspectives in research and scholarship. Her research sits in the intersection of cancer disparities, access to care, and health equity.
Ms. Thoumi brings over 15 year’s experience leading multi-national, multi-year projects with prior experience with PwC, the Brookings Institution, and the Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy. Her subject matter expertise is in community health, health policy, health equity, and health financing. She has served as a senior advisor or project lead on research related to increasing cervical cancer screening in low-resource settings, strengthening COVID-19 testing and vaccination strategies, and identifying policies to support community health worker programs in the US.
Ms. Thoumi is the recipient of the BRIDGE Scholar (2024; Honorable Mention, Alice S. Hersh Emerging Leader Award, AcademyHealth (2023); Early-Stage Distinguished Investigator Award, Health Disparities Interest Group, AcademyHealth (2021); and Duke Presidential Award (2021) for her work with LATIN-19. Currently, she serves as Chair, Health Equity Interest Group and Student Representative, Board of Directors of AcademyHealth. Her work has been published in leading journals including Health Affairs, The Milbank Quarterly, AJPH, and Health Equity.
Ms. Thoumi holds a Master in Public Policy from Georgetown University, an MSc in Health Policy, Planning and Financing from the London School of Economics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and BA in Community Health and International Relations from Tufts University. Currently, she is pursuing her doctoral degree in the Department of Population Health Sciences (DPHS), Duke University School of Medicine and is a graduate student researcher with the Research to Eliminate Global Cancer Disparities (REGAL) team.
Public Health at the Intersections of Identity
Senator Lisa Grafstein
Lisa Grafstein has been a civil rights lawyer since 1995. After running her own firm for 16 years, she joined Disability Rights North Carolina, a non-profit organization that advocates on behalf of people with disabilities. At Disability Rights, she litigates cases to enforce the rights of people with disabilities to live and work free from discrimination. She has represented people facing employment discrimination, voting rights violations, disability discrimination by public agencies, denial of access to public accommodations, and constitutional rights violations. She is a graduate of Northwestern University and received her law degree from UNC - Chapel Hill School of Law.
In 2022, Lisa was elected to the NC Senate to serve District 13 in Wake County and serves on the following committees: Judiciary; Agriculture, Energy, and Environment; State and Local Government; Regulatory Reform; Appropriations/Base Budget; Appropriations on Justice and Public Safety; and Legislative Ethics.
Lisa has received a number of professional awards, including the Gwyneth B. Davis Public Service Award from the North Carolina Association of Women Attorneys and the Champion of Justice Award from the Barbara McDowell and Gerald Hartman Foundation.
Dr. Whitney N. McCoy Hudson
Dr. Whitney N. McCoy Hudson is a Research Scientist at Duke University’s Center for Child and Family Policy whose work is focused on community-engaged STEM education, educational access, rigorous scholarship, and partnership. Through research that illuminates how learning environments shape student engagement, well-being, and opportunity, Dr. McCoy Hudson advances a vision of education where all young people—especially those historically excluded from STEM—are empowered to thrive.
Dr. McCoy Hudson employs advanced qualitative and mixed-methods approaches to investigate and uplift the voices and lived experiences of students and educators, design and evaluate learning environments, and guide research-driven improvements across K–12 systems. Her work centers educator development, curriculum design, and the structural conditions necessary for students to flourish academically and emotionally. Her research is not confined to the academy; it moves into communities, shaping practice, strengthening partnerships, and expanding access to engineering and technology pathways.
Her leadership is most powerfully exemplified through the InventSTEM Institute, a multigenerational STEM learning community that brings together Duke undergraduate students, Durham caregivers, and their children in joyful, purposeful engineering exploration. Through deep listening, asset mapping, and ongoing dialogue with families, Dr. McCoy Hudson designed a program that dismantles participation barriers, cultivates belonging, and repositions community members as co-creators rather than recipients of university outreach. The relationships formed through InventSTEM extend far beyond the classroom, building networks of support that uplift Durham families and prepare Duke students to engage with communities ethically, humbly, and effectively. She also mentors and guides undergraduate students enrolled in the EGR190/EDUC290S community-engaged course, supporting their development as reflective practitioners capable of partnering authentically with Durham communities.
A former K–6 teacher in Mecklenburg and Guilford Counties, Dr. McCoy Hudson grounds her research in the realities of teaching and learning. Her experience as an educator enriches her scholarship and fuels her commitment to improving the environments where children grow. Before joining Duke, she served as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in STEM Education at the University of Virginia.
Dr. McCoy Hudson earned a B.S. in Biology from Winston-Salem State University, an M.A. in Teaching from UNC Charlotte, and a Ph.D. in Teacher Education and Learning Science (Educational Psychology) from NC State University.
Dr. Jay Pearson
Dr. Jay Pearson is Associate Professor of Public Policy and Associate Dean of Inclusive Academic Excellence at Duke University’s Sanford School. Pearson hails from rural eastern North Carolina and is a first-generation college attendee. He is a population health scientist trained in Health Education, Health Behavior, Social Epidemiology and Health Demography. Dr. Pearson has lived and worked in a diverse range of communities and socio-cultural contexts, both in the US and abroad. His research, teaching and advocacy address the historical role of public policy decision making in majority/minority identity construction, social stratification, and the ways social biases associated with structurally rooted social inequality undergird physically embodied distress to manifest as population health advantage and disadvantage.
Vanity Reid Deterville
Vanity Reid Deterville is a Gullah Geechee Black Trans woman from the lowcountry of Charleston, SC (Now living and working in the Triad and Triangle of North Carolina) with a Political Science and Public Policy background and is currently in pursuit of her Master of Public Health with a Concentration of Leadership in Practice from The Gillings School of Global Public Health at The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. For the past 7 years Deterville has served in a Co-facilitator and partner member capacity in a worker-owned Restorative Justice cooperative
known as the Transformative Teaching Collective where she assists in the development and facilitation of Restorative dialogue, equity-based workshops, and anti-racist pedagogies. Deterville is passionate about advancing health equity through her involvement within community engaged research and patient-centered outcomes as an advisory councilmember of the Duke University CTSI Community Engaged Research Initiative (CERI-CAC). Five and a half years have passed since she began working on behalf of her NC community and more recently ascending to the role of Co-Executive Director at The LGBTQ Center of Durham in Durham, NC where her fight for the access, liberation and protection or Queer and Trans people persists.
North Carolina, The Epicenter of Environmental Justice
Dr. Benjamin Franklin Chavis Jr.
Dr. Benjamin Franklin Chavis Jr. (B: January 22, 1948 in Oxford, North Carolina) is an African American civil rights leader, United Church of Christ (UCC) ordained minister, author, journalist, organic chemist, environmentalist, global entrepreneur, and currently President and CEO of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) based in Washington, DC since 2014. Dr. Chavis is a professor at Duke University in Durhan, NC as the 2024 Inaugural Environmental Justice and Racial Equity Fellow., and is National Co-Chair of the Black Jewish Action Alliance (BJAA). Dr. Chavis is the Executive Producer and Host of The Chavis Chronicles, www.TheChavisChronicles.com, broadcast weekly on PBS TV Network stations reaching over 90 million households throughout the United States. THE GOOD NEWS is a nationally syndicated, daily radio commentary www.TheGoodNewsRadio.com hosted by Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, Jr. In the early 1960s, Chavis was the North Carolina statewide youth coordinator for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Dr. Chavis is the former Executive Director and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and a graduate of University of North Carolina, Duke University and Howard University.
Dionne Delli-Gatti
Dionne Delli-Gatti, a North Carolina-based leader in environmental justice, community engagement, and clean energy policy, has over two decades of experience advancing equity-centered climate solutions. She served as Acting Secretary of the Department of Environmental Quality and North Carolina’s first Director of Clean Energy, where she led bipartisan negotiations on landmark climate legislation and embedded equity and economic development priorities into the state’s carbon reduction goals.
Dionne’s environmental justice work prioritizes climate solutions that benefit frontline communities. As Associate Vice President of Community Engagement at Environmental Defense Fund, she led the Office of Community Engagement, developing strategies to forge partnerships with universities, advocacy groups, and communities nationwide and facilitated mayoral roundtables with the African American Mayors Association and established the inaugural EDF-AMMA Fellow for Environmental Justice and Climate Equity. Earlier, she created the Cities Initiative, a coalition of North Carolina local governments focused on accelerating climate action and centering community voices in policy decisions. Currently, she serves on the Advisory Committee for the Frontline Resources Institute and recently completed an engagement with the National Academies of Science Community and Tribal Liaison group for the Committee on State-of-the-Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment.
Before her work in North Carolina, Dionne spent six years at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as Congressional and Government Liaison for the Southeast Region, earning multiple awards, including the EPA National Notable Achievement Award and three Bronze Medal Awards for her contributions to environmental protection and intergovernmental collaboration.
Dionne, an Air Force veteran, holds a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Geology from Wright State University, a Master of Science in Environmental Science with a concentration in Public Policy from the University of North Texas, and is completing a Nonprofit Leadership Certification at Duke University. She’s passionate about creating sustainable solutions that improve lives, strengthen communities, and ensure environmental protection and climate action benefit all, especially those affected by environmental injustice.
Angella Dunston
Angella Dunston is a proud product of rural America having grown up on the borders of both rural North Carolina and Virginia. She began her journey as a social justice advocate and environmental steward during the birth of the Environmental Justice Movement (EJM) in Warren County. According to Dunston, her lived experiences during the EJ Movement fueled her desire to continue to advocate against injustices which impact marginalized communities all across the country.
Dunston is considered an accomplished Thought Leader with a heart for serving people. She has years of experience in community and government relations as well as policy advocacy. In addition, she has expansive skills in leadership development, Justice, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (JDEI) and is currently utilizing those skills in partnership with countless communities to address systemic injustices.
During the Pandemic, Dunston served as the national coordinator for a COVID Project Fund by the NIH to address the COVID crisis in the United States. As coordinator Dunston created a national coalition of leaders that partnered to decrease the number of COVID deaths across the country.
Dunston has also collaborated with the veteran community, women’s groups, community leaders and policymakers to create policies to address the inequities faced by individuals and families in those communities. Currently Dunston, serves as a thought leader with the HeatWise Policy Partnership at Duke University – an effort to develop solutions to address the adverse effects of extreme heat in the United States.
She is the recipient of numerous awards and honors. In her spare time, she serves on a variety of boards and commissions including the NC League of Conservation Voters (NCLCV), Warren County Environmental Action Team (WCEAT), Clean Water for North Carolina, Lead With Lillian’s List, NC NAACP and countless other efforts that provide support and resources for impacted communities.
Cameron Oglesby
Cameron is an internationally award-winning environmental justice (EJ) organizer, strategist, and storyteller who has worked for nearly a decade to establish climate education programs, redistribute resources to frontline organizers, report on environmental racism, climate, policy, and land in the U.S., and advise multi-sectoral partners on initiatives from ideation to impact evaluation.
Cameron received her Master in Public Policy and Bachelors in Environmental Science and Policy from Duke University. She previously worked as the Senior Officer for Rural Outreach at Climate United/Calvert Impact and as a Business Analyst at McKinsey & Company, where she supported strategy and helped redirect capital to critical solutions for people and the planet.
Cameron is the founder and project lead of theEnvironmental Justice Oral History Project – an educational repository that combines diverse storytelling traditions to document EJ in the U.S. Southeast. She’s been featured on panels, in the written word, and in documentary film alongside the originators of the Environmental Justice Movement, and continues to work directly with foundations and several Southeast organizations on their strategy-building, capacity-building, and storytelling efforts. In collaboration with movement leaders, she has contributed a chapter on building narrative power for EJ movements to the Liberation Stories anthology (The New Press, 2025), and is currently working with movement leaders to write a primer on the history of environmental racism in the U.S.
Cameron is a National Geographic Young Explorer; a Young, Gifted, and Green 40 Under 40 Awardee; an Aspen Institute Future Leader Climate Fellow; and a 30 Under 30 Leader with the North American Association for Environmental Education. She has spoken about community narrative and organizing as a powerful climate solution on numerous panels, including with the EPA, CEC, and NATO. Cameron’s reporting has been recognized by the Sierra Club, Southern Environmental Law Center, Covering Climate Now, and the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Her work is inspired by her own connection to ancestral farmland that’s been in her family for 100 years.
Sherri White-Williamson
Sherri White-Williamson is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Environmental Justice Community Action Network (EJCAN). The organization was established in July 2020 and has become a voice for rural residents in Sampson County and the broader environmental justice community. In 2024, EJCAN, under the leadership of Ms. White-Williamson, signed a federally approved consent decree with GFL International, the local regional landfill. The organization is engaged with organizations across the country to better understand and address the cumulative impacts of polluting sources on communities similar to those in Sampson County, NC.
Ms. White-Williamson is a graduate of Vermont Law School (VLS), South Royalton, VT, where she earned dual degrees, her Juris Doctor and a Master's in Energy Regulation and Law. While at VLS, she co-chaired the first Environmental Justice Solutions Conference and co-founded the Environmental Justice Law Society. She has received two awards from Vermont Law for her environmental justice activism – the Marc Mihaly Environmental Leadership Award in 2018, recognizing her commitment to environmental justice, and the Social Justice Scholars Alumni Award in 2023.
Ms. White-Williamson retired from the U.S. EPA's Office of Environmental Justice, where she served in multiple roles, including Manager of the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice established under Executive Order 12898 and Designated Federal Officer to the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
She is an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated, serves as the Environmental Justice Chairperson for the North Carolina NAACP, and has remained active with students as an Adjunct Professor at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment. She currently resides in Sampson County, North Carolina, where she grew up.
Climate Resiliency & Emerging Risks: Heat, Water & Artificial Intelligence Systems
Cassandra R. Davis
Cassandra R. Davis is an Assistant Professor of Public Policy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Davis has researched environmental disruptions, specifically exploring how extreme events impact underinvested communities and the extent to which these groups ultimately recover from an event. Dr. Davis’ scholarship also focuses on dismantling forms of oppression and racism that are situated in spatially disadvantaged communities, causing them to be ill-equipped to face repeated events. Her goal is to support community leaders, educators, emergency management personnel, and policymakers in improving responses, mitigation strategies, preparedness, and recovery in areas with the highest need. Dr. Davis has received funding from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the National Science Foundation, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to name a few.
Dr. Clinton Griffin
Dr. Clinton Griffin is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Research (IAIER) at North Carolina Central University. He holds a Ph.D. in Computational Data Science and Engineering from North Carolina A&T State University, where his research focused on leveraging machine learning and artificial intelligence to address critical issues in student well-being and food insecurity at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Dr. Griffin’s expertise lies at the intersection of AI ethics, predictive analytics, and socially responsible computing. His work integrates natural language processing (NLP), geospatial analytics, and deep learning to develop data-driven models that inform policy, enhance equity, and promote institutional change. He has led multiple interdisciplinary projects involving the use of survey design, large-scale data processing, and advanced statistical modeling to uncover insights in public health and higher education.
At IAIER, Dr. Griffin conducts research on algorithmic fairness, responsible AI governance, and the development of transparent and inclusive AI systems. He mentors undergraduate and graduate students, supports curriculum development in AI literacy, and contributes to national conversations on ethical AI through academic publications and public engagement.
Dr. Griffin is also a published co-author in mathematics education and has received recognition for teaching excellence, including Teacher of the Month during his tenure with Durham Public Schools. His ongoing mission is to bridge computational research with equity-driven impact, ensuring that AI technologies serve diverse communities and foster inclusive innovation.
Michelle Lewis
Michelle Lewis is a research associate for the Heat Policy Innovation Hub. Before her work at the Nicholas Institute, she served as the Agent of Thriving for Climate and Environmental Justice at the Ormond Center at Duke Divinity School. She earned her doctoral degree from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. Lewis holds a master of environmental science from Yale School of the Environment and a master of divinity from Yale Divinity School, along with a certificate from Yale Institute of Sacred Music and the Arts. She studied film at Regent University, where she completed a master of arts in communication. Lewis has worked in both rural and urban contexts and has led community-based participatory research. Her research has focused on how faith communities connect with the environment through their existing cosmologies, the effects of green space on patient outcomes, and the environmental theologies of Black coastal communities.
Lewis is ordained in the United Methodist Church and is a former US park ranger. She founded and directs the Outer Banks Environmental Film Festival. In her free time, she grows food at the Peace Garden Project.
Chandra T. Taylor-Sawyer
Chandra T. Taylor-Sawyer is a Senior Attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, a regional non-profit focused on protecting natural resources and public health in the Southeast. As the leader of SELC’s Environmental Justice Initiative, she collaborates region-wide with SELC staff and partners to help alleviate the disproportionate burden of environmental harm on underserved communities, including communities of color. Her background includes water quality advocacy, water resource planning, inter-basin transfer permitting monitoring, stormwater permit monitoring, natural resources restoration planning, waste site clean-up advocacy, and advocating for better industrial hog operation regulations. Chandra also serves on SELC’s Management Committee. Her environmental justice experience includes teaching Environmental Justice Law, Policy and Regulation as adjunct faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Law since 2016, participation in the Vermont Law School Environmental Justice Young Fellows China exchange, formerly serving on the Board of Directors for three environmental justice non-profits, and advocacy in collaboration with a range of partners and clients at SELC. Chandra is a past participant in the Audubon/Toyota TogetherGreen Fellowship program for her work incorporating consideration of Environmental Justice into traditional conservation advocacy, and the recipient of the Fellows Mentor award. She also serves on the Board of the UNC Institute for the Environment, the Greater Triangle Area Chapter of the American Red Cross, the National Environmental Education Foundation, and the Vanderbilt Law School Environmental Law Policy Annual Review advisory committee. She is a member of the Durham Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated.
Chandra is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and its School of Law, and is from Kinston, North Carolina. When she is not working, she likes to garden, travel, and spend time outside with family and friends.