Taylor has served as the Senior Director of Health Equity at NACDD since January. Prior to that role, she was a health equity consultant for NACDD, where her work included a project to increase enrollment of minority men in the National Diabetes Prevention Program and a project to reduce breast cancer disparities. She co-wrote Moving to Institutional Equity: A Tool to Address Racial Equity in Public Health and is a founding member of NACDD’s Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (REDI) Alliance, which was established in 2020 to focus on promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion within NACDD’s internal culture and practices.

Prior to NACDD, Taylor’s commitment to public service includes serving as the Assistant Director of Health Equity for the State of Ohio, and roles with the New Jersey Nicholson Foundation, Horizon Health, and the National Recreation and Parks Association. She also is co-founder of Epic Health Solutions.

Through Taylor’s leadership, CJPH was launched earlier this year with the goal of ensuring social justice becomes a cornerstone of public health. The Center works to raise awareness of health inequities by providing resources and tools, capacity building, training, technical assistance, and sharing opportunities to NACDD Members, which include chronic disease staff in all State Health Departments across the nation. The Center also works to advance policy and advocacy in support of equitable chronic disease prevention and control.

“The promise of public health cannot be realized until we address the inequities within systems and structures,” Taylor said. “Justice in health means we ensure every person has access within their community to the things they need to be healthy. It’s also important that those who are not directly affected by these disparities understand the repercussions of health inequities, and why they must be addressed. We all play a role.”

Advancing health equity is an overarching NACDD goal and has long been a focus in its programmatic work. Last year, the Association updated its Strategic Map, Mission, and Vision, to reflect the organization’s commitment to racial equity, health equity, and social justice.

“NACDD has long fostered discussions and opportunities to ask harder questions of ourselves on how we can be more equitable, inclusive, and effective in our work to reduce the burden of chronic disease within all communities,” said Robitscher. “The establishment of the Center for Justice in Public Health highlights our commitment to supporting social justice and health equity. We can create a country where everyone has a fair and just opportunity to live their healthiest lives, including better health outcomes, both in marginalized communities and the overall population.”

Learn more about NACDD’s health equity work at chronicdisease.org/page/healthequityprograms.