Hillman Scholar Selected for New leadership program from RWJF

Latesha K. Harris (UNC-CH ‘25) has been selected to participate in one of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s leadership programs. These programs connect changemakers across the country—from diverse professions and fields—to learn from and work with one another in creating more just and thriving communities.

Designed for doctoral students from historically marginalized backgrounds and populations underrepresented in specific disciplines, Health Policy Research Scholars helps students from all fields apply their work to policies that advance equity and health while building a diverse network of leaders who reflect our changing national demographics.

As a member of the program’s newest cohort, Latesha will focus on examining the associations between psychosocial stressors (e.g., poverty, early life adversity, discrimination, violence in communities, trauma), structural racism, and cardiometabolic health disparities among African American women. For her dissertation, she plans to investigate police violence as a race-related stressor that can impact the cardiometabolic risk (CMR) among African American women. She aims to provide a more in-depth analysis of the mechanisms through which stress and structural racism operate and contribute to health inequities.