Dr. Chris T. Pernell is a dynamic physician leader, board certified preventive medicine and public health specialist and social change agent. In her population health practice, she concentrates on health justice, community-based advocacy, diverse sector wellness programs and health promotion and disease prevention. Recently, she joined University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey as the first ever Chief Strategic Integration and Health Equity Officer where she oversees a portfolio which includes Population and Community Health, Strategic Planning, Community Affairs and the Human Experience. Prior to joining University Hospital, she led the 1199SEIU/League Labor Management Initiatives (LMI) Workplace and Community Health Program. Working with leaders and frontline workers of 1199SEIU, and partners across NYC healthcare institutions, her efforts centered on workplace health strategies, worker engagement and empowerment, health equity, and health system transformation.

Prior to her work with the LMI, Dr. Chris, as she is affectionately known, spearheaded community initiatives in the Greater Newark, New Jersey area focused on dynamic wellbeing and health promotion in vulnerable groups. In the past, she contributed to “Health Care Rx” – an online expert panel conducted by the Washington Post, providing social and public policy commentary leading up to the passage of the Affordable Care Act. In her first book, Letters to My People, she pens a collection of essays, poems and affirmations daring humanity to their highest selves and a collective goodwill.

Dr. Chris graduated cum laude from Princeton University before attending Duke University School of Medicine. She received her Master of Public Health from the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, and completed the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health General Preventive Medicine Residency. She is a fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine and served as an adjunct associate professor at the NYU College of Global Public Health. She labors in a groundbreaking ministry, BET HaSHEM YHWH Worldwide Ministries, where she has traveled domestically and abroad helping to transform lives through faith, social justice, creative arts and spiritual wellbeing.