About
The Radical Health Justice Lab is research collaborative based in the department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Chicago. We draw our inspiration for health justice from Cleo Silvers (November 24, 1946-August 11, 2025), a health justice activist, community health worker, and former member of both the Black Panther Party and Young Lords Party in New York City. Silvers was a part of the iconic Young Lords takeover of Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx. She was pivotal in ending the use of lead paint in residential buildings. She also wrote the original Patient Bill of Rights found in nearly every hospital in the United States. Her life-long activism is a testament that health is integral in the fight for justice and justice is integral in the fight for health.
“It is impossible to be involved in struggles—locally or nationally or internationally—and not begin to focus on the quality of health of human beings. It’s inevitable that if you’re struggling over issues of justice and equality that access to quality health care is a part of that. Health is an organic part of the struggle for justice and equality. A lot of times, it is people being sick that keeps them from being able to struggle more. If people are well, then they’re able to fight for their own needs. I think that young people eventually come to that conclusion.”
—CLEO SILVERS
Lab Values
Health Equity
ensuring the conditions under which people have what they need to be well and thrive
Collaboration
working together because social science is done best in collaboration, not competition
Radical Public Health
understanding the root causes of wellness, illness, and premature death
Respect
treating our research participants, community partners, each other, and ourselves with dignity and compassion
Trans-disciplinarity
using a wide range of tools and ways of thinking to explore, explain, and change the conditions that produce health
Integrity
honoring ourselves and the work to produce careful, innovative, and impactful research
