We recently connected with Alicia Justice and have shared our conversation below.

Alicia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

As I was completing my Masters education in public health, my thesis was on commercial tobacco industry predatory marketing practices and to support the completion of my essay I integrated local tobacco prevention advocacy strategies based on my practical application internship with a local tobacco prevention coalition. This same coalition was primarily funded by the city-county health department. After graduation, I applied and was offered a full-time position at the same city-county health department to continue work with the group, now as the coalition coordinator. The opportunity was timely, appropriate, and very exciting for me since I had just graduated and invested a lot of time and money in my educational studies exploring the implications of local commercial tobacco use and prevention. Unfortunately, my enthusiasm was quickly extinguished by constant microaggressive behaviors that grew into patterns of workplace abuse that negatively impacted my psychological agency and overall mental health. It was such a confusing experience for me because I had no idea that this type of treatment was even allowed to happen in a workplace setting. I learned that my experiences were not isolated and that no one cared enough to do anything to address the experiences I was having after trying to lift up my concerns with my direct supervisor and later with a human resources representative. The experiences were affecting me so much that I concluded I didn’t belong in public health and that I had made a very expensive mistake my investing financial resources to attain the MPH degree because I was making plans to leave. What I thought was going to be last major job assignment turned into an opportunity to find a sense of community and build a network outside of my employer that gave me a safe space and affirmed the value of contributions in public health. I attended a conference and met some wonderful colleagues from another national organization leading tobacco prevention efforts in Black and African American communities, who would invite me to serve on the board of directors for their organization 13 years later. I eventually left the health department that created so much workplace trauma for me and moved on to national nonprofit work. As I continued to grow my network and professional profile, I met a lot of people along the way who would describe related workplace experiences that left them bruised and traumatized. As I was entering school once again, this time to pursue a DrPH in health equity and social justice, I found it so fascinating that a field like public health designed to heal communities could be a place breeding so much harm for its workforce, and once again, I wanted to respond to this phenomenon and pushback on the status quo that any part of this was acceptable treatment. While I would have rathered not having such a traumatic start to my public health career, this dark moment was a defining element of my professional journey because these experiences later informed my qualitative research study and have the potential to speak out and up for so many people who may be hiding in plain sight from their workplace bruises. I remember when I was in the trenches of that time period and I vented to my great grandmother, who today is 95 years young and filled with so much spiritual wisdom. Over 18 years ago now, I remember she told me in that moment that “God does not allow pain that doesn’t have a purpose for our lives.” At the time, I didn’t have capacity to fully understand what this would mean for me. But on Tuesday, June 25, 2024, at 9 a.m. eastern when I successfully defended my dissertation from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health that focused on the implications of workplace culture, leadership profiles, and organizational policies, it was clear to me that the pain I experienced on my first public health job was allowed so that I could tell analytical love stories. I am grateful that I processed the pain I experienced in a healthy way so that I would have the capacity to atone for those past experiences and affirm others’ experiences in order to hold organizations accountable and redesign workplace norms toward reparative justice.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Alicia D. Justice, DrPH, MPH, is a public health doctor and health equity strategist with experience guiding organizational leaders, their workforce, and partners in operationalizing a culture of equity in their programmatic and operational work. She is a dedicated scholar passionate about investigating ways to build and sustain equitable public health delivery systems and healthcare institutional practices. She integrates her desire to create a world where everyone can thrive, regardless of identity, by centering humanity, compassion, and curiosity about others’ perspectives in the application of her experiential learning and facilitation approaches. Dr. Justice currently serves as the Senior Director of Health Equity and Transformation within the chief executive office at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologist (ACOG). She is also the founder and principal consultant for Root Causes Consulting, LLC.

Her doctoral research focused on examining the elements that create fairness in the workplace and how leaders can facilitate psychological safety to create better teams leading to optimal program outcomes. Dr. Justice was named one of de Beaumont Foundation’s 40 Under 40 in Public Health honorees for her accomplishments as a premier health equity trainer/facilitator and top contributor to various national public health initiatives. Her writing and thought leadership have been featured in various public health professional coaching programs, including the CDC Office on Smoking and Health’s Leadership and Sustainability School. She also proudly serves on the board of directors for the Center for Black Health and Equity and supports several health-related initiatives as a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Dr. Justice graduated with her MPH degree in Health Administration and Policy from the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, and later received a professional certificate in Nonprofit Management from Marymount University. She completed her DrPH degree at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in health equity and social justice.

Originally from the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, Dr. Justice is a southern Creole cuisine-eating (and cooking) native, loving partner, big sister to three amazing brothers, auntie to a beautiful niece and three handsome nephews, and fur-mama to the coolest 12-pound mini Goldendoodle. She represents a legacy of spirit-filled people whose praise and worship are also demonstrated in the ways they are led to love and nurture others. She’s a self-proclaimed retired comic book kid and a 90s R&B and Hip-Hop music connoisseur who enjoys Pilates, trail running, tasting new foods, promenading at farmers markets, and traveling to new cities and countries.

How do you keep your team’s morale high?

Prioritize learning how to and committing to facilitating psychological safety within and across teams. Psychological safety is defined by Dr. Amy Edmondson as a shared belief within a team that the team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. This means individuals feel comfortable speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, and mistakes without fear of negative social or professional consequences. It’s about creating an environment where people can openly express themselves and learn from mistakes without fear of punishment or humiliation. This skill should be a required foundational practice of all leadership teams and evident that it’s present by everyone who interacts in the organizational environment.

If you could go back, would you choose the same profession, specialty, etc.?

While my start to public health was not positive, knowing what I know now I would say yes. My ability to effectively and enthusiastically contribute in public health is something that I was born with and then later refined academically through my formal public health training. But, I am clear that for me public health represents kingdom work. I was created to minister to people through the scientific implications of public health and I’m blessed to do it while not abandoning my ability to innovate within traditional frameworks and practices.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.therccapproach.org/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjusticemph84/