National Advisory Committee

Jewel Mullen, MD, MPH, MPA is Associate Dean for Health Equity at Dell Medical School, as well as an associate professor in the school’s population health and internal medicine departments. She also serves as Director of Health Equity at Ascension Seton to help meet health equity goals across its system.

Heidi Allen, MSW, PhD is Associate Dean for Research and an Associate Professor in the School of Social Work at Columbia University. Dr. Allen’s research focuses on eliminating health disparities through evidence-based health policy and evolved from her clinical practice in mental health and emergency department social work.

Daniel E. Dawes, JD, a widely respected author, scholar, educator, and leader in the health equity, health reform, and mental health movements. He is leading the Health Equity Institute in the School of Global Public Health at Meharry Medical College where he is generating a strategic plan to launch the future School, which will be the first school of its kind at a historically Black college or university.

Dell Gines, MBA, MSF, PhD, CEcD, is the Vice President of Strategic Partnerships, Advisory Services and Thought Leadership at the International Economic Development  Council. He was formerly Senior Community Development Advisor for the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City.

Kent Key, PhD, is a Health Disparities Researcher. In 2020, he authored a resolution Declaring Racism as a Public Health Crisis and has spearheaded initiatives locally and regionally, and nationally. His work was featured in the January 2021 issue of “The Nations Health” a publication of the American Public Health Association.

Nancy López, PhD, is a professor of sociology at the University of New Mexico (UNM). She directs and co-founded the Institute for the Study of “Race” and Social Justice and she is the founding coordinator of the New Mexico Statewide Race, Gender, Class Data Policy Consortium.

Mai Thi Nguyen, PhD, is a Professor of Urban Studies and Planning and Director of the Design Lab at the University of California, San Diego. She is an award-winning researcher and teacher. Her research focuses on social and spatial equity and examines planning and policy topics related to housing, immigration, and climate change.