Bram Wispelwey, MD, MS, MPH, is co-director of the Palestine Program for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard FXB Center, and a co-founder of Health for Palestine. Bram’s research, education, and implementation efforts focus on antiracism strategies to address hospital inequities, community health worker impact, and the settler colonial determinants of health. Before the start of his medical career, he pursued LGBTQ-rights activism, which informs his health approach at the bedside and in advocacy.
Our paths first crossed when Deionna read his article, “Because its power remains naturalized: introducing the settler colonial determinants of health.” She felt compelled to have a conversation with a fellow researcher studying settler colonialism and health. In 2024, as university encampments in solidarity with Palestine were rising across campuses, the public health field seemed to turn the other way. It felt urgent to discuss and reframe public health through the lens of settler colonialism and racial capitalism, and to ask how we, as public health practitioners, can contribute to our collective liberation.
Art credit: freepalestineproject.com
