Lydia Isaac, PhD, MSc, is the Vice President for Health Equity and Policy at the National Urban League. Dr. Isaac has a faculty appointment at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the Department of Health Policy and Management. She most recently served as an Associate Research Professor and Executive Director of the RWJF-funded Health Policy Research Scholars Program (HPRS) program at George Washington University where she was responsible for the day-to-day operations and curriculum development for the program.
Previously, she was the Director of Policy and Health Systems Analysis in the Office of Policy, Planning, and Strategic Data in the First Deputy Commissioner’s office at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She has also served as the Director of Quality Improvements and Grants for HIV Services at the NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation.
Dr. Isaac has worked in local and state government throughout her career and in academia where she has taught classes on community health assessment and the social disparities in health.
Dr. Isaac’s research interests include advancing health equity and investigating the mechanisms that lead to racial and ethnic health disparities, social determinants of health, and their role in health promotion.
She has a bachelor’s degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University, a Master of Science degree in Health and Social Behavior from the Harvard School of Public Health, and a doctorate in Health Policy and Management from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
