Javier William Lopez was recently appointed as the Red Hook Initiative’s first chief strategy officer, has spent the bulk of his career advancing racial, gender, social and economic equity for communities of color. Prior to joining the Red Hook Initiative, Javier served as one of the assistant commissioners at the Center for Health Equity, a division within the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, where he oversaw the Center’s Racial Justice Program to Policy innovation portfolio. Under his leadership, the academic concept of health equity was put into everyday practice, which led to promising public health advancements via: the centering of community health workers as a health equity workforce; evolving diabetes prevention; changing the narrative around the food retail intervention; and naming gun violence a public health issue. In addition, Javier conceptualized and led New York City’s first Health In All Policy initiative, which brought together New York City’s housing and planning communities to put forward concrete commitments that aimed to address neighborhood health inequities. Lopez serves on the board of Radical Health and Nos Quedamos and previously served as a Health Equity Awakened Leadership Institute Fellow at Human Impact Partners. He earned his master’s degree in public administration as a member of the nationally recognized National Urban Fellows program.