Lending her voice to promote health equity: ‘You are always doing public health’

Jodi-Ann Burey

Jodi-Ann Burey, MPH ’14

Health Behavior and Health Education

April 29, 2024

This spring marked six years since Jodi-Ann Burey, MPH ’14, had surgery to remove a tumor from her spinal cord. The effect on her health was harrowing enough, but it also took three years to properly diagnose the tumor.

It was a life-altering experience in more ways than one. Coming to terms with having cancer can be especially daunting, but for Burey, she knew from her lived experience as a Black woman and her classroom experience that health inequities don’t necessarily stop at the door to the doctor’s office.   

Burey had learned all about health inequity while earning her Master of Public Health in Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She had become one of those data points. 

“I was living out that experience—it was surreal,” Burey said. “One of the strategies I would use as a Black woman with institutional privileges to navigate the healthcare system is, I would go to appointments with a Michigan sweatshirt on, trying to find a way to mention that I have a degree in public health.

“I used my skill set of knowing how to read health research papers and understanding how a lot of that research was done to be able to position myself as a partner in my diagnosis journey.”

I was living out that experience—it was surreal. One of the strategies I would use as a Black woman with institutional privileges to navigate the healthcare system is, I would go to appointments with a Michigan sweatshirt on, trying to find a way to mention that I have a degree in public health.”

Her public health knowledge gave her the confidence to discuss complex medical topics with her physicians and empathize with her family’s concerns. Living through this ordeal not only transformed her personally but also shaped her career trajectory, deepening her understanding of her life’s fragility and urgency.

She transitioned from a global health practitioner to working for herself, leveraging her expertise in public health to help others with shared experiences.

“Going through that process made a lot of things just more pressing for me career wise, especially around social issues and trying not to be so abstract,” she said. “We’re talking about actual human beings and the things that they need to live a good life.”

Podcast inspires community dialogue

This transformation inspired her to start the podcast Black Cancer, about the lives of people of color and their cancer journeys. She also is investing her time and energy into learning more about disability rights and experiences.

“I didn't have anyone that I could talk to really about my own experience,” Burey said. “For a period after my surgery, I only really wanted to talk to other people who had cancer or were caregivers of people who had cancer. That became such a solace for me.”

The podcast demonstrated the impact such initiatives can have on communities seeking comfort and understanding. More importantly, it underscored how a public health perspective has informed her understanding and commentary on social issues.

The way I envision my work aligns with a lot of the public health frameworks that come from the discipline of Health Behavior and Health Education I learned at Michigan Public Health. I think that grounding in public health shapes a lot of my commentary.”

Burey has become a sought-after speaker and writer. Her forthcoming book, “AUTHENTIC” (Flatiron Books, 2025) extends the ideas first presented in her TED Talk, The Myth of Bringing Your Full Authentic Self to Work, disrupting traditional narratives about racism at work. She also is a regular contributor on KUOW-NPR in Seattle, where she has called home since leaving Ann Arbor in 2014.  

“The way I envision my work aligns with a lot of the public health frameworks that come from the discipline of Health Behavior and Health Education I learned at Michigan Public Health,” Burey said. “ I think that grounding in public health shapes a lot of my commentary.”

Burey has conducted more than 100 keynotes, panels, conversations, and interviews, where she takes a stance on issues such as violence and policing, arguing that violence should be treated as a public health issue rather than solely a criminal one. She draws connections to factors such as income inequality, housing, healthcare access, suggesting that these elements contribute more to community health and violence prevention than an increased police presence.

Recently on KUOW-NPR, Burey discussed Seattle’s new dog parks through a public health lens. 

“Seattle has something like 50,000 more dogs than children—this is a public health issue about green space, park management, urban infrastructure, social isolation and loneliness,” she said, echoing her HBHE mentors at Michigan Public Health Cleo Caldwell and Laurie Lachance. “My public health training allows me to be nimble and creative in the types of work that I do, the speaking that I do, the ideas that I create in my writing. 

“So, whether I’m talking about dog parks, or violence, or weathering and chronic stress, or survivorship and the work of caregiving, public health is all of that. I don't know if I would be able to navigate these conversations without that training.”

Burey, who was born in Jamaica and grew up in Queens, New York City, has more than 15 years of entrepreneurial, corporate, non-profit and start-up professional experience. One of her recent ventures is co-creating Lit Lounge, a curated book collection and author interview series that she hosts.

‘You are always doing public health’

While at Michigan Public Health, part of Burey’s academic journey included a summer practicum through the William Davidson Institute, where she consulted for a global health organization focused on work in Malawi and Mozambique. This opportunity led to a three-month stint in Malawi performing an organizational assessment. Her insights into administrative and organizational design complemented their understanding of the programmatic aspects of the organization's work.

Before she graduated from Michigan, she accepted a full-time job at an NGO based in Seattle, where she contributed to health systems work, traveling to Malawi over a dozen  times over five years. Despite never anticipating a career in global health, Burey found fulfillment in this field.

Since the pandemic, she has been working on her own, which has allowed her to have more freedom professionally.

Burey said she is humbled to be invited to speak at the school’s graduation and plans to convey a powerful message at the ceremony.

To realize that my relationship to this university matters enough that they would think about me and invite me to come back to speak for graduation, I was just very honored by that. I am very inspired to speak to public health students because I cannot imagine what the last four years have been like for them—living, working and going to school in a pandemic."

“To realize that my relationship to this university matters enough that they would think about me and invite me to come back to speak for graduation, I was just very honored by that,” she said. “I am very inspired to speak to public health students because I cannot imagine what the last four years have been like for them—living, working and going to school in a pandemic.

“What I want to share with the students, based on my own career path, is: You are always doing public health. The work students  did at Michigan Public Health, what they learned, the relationship that they built, it’s never going to leave them. Even if they ‘leave the profession,’ they will always be doing public health, because I’m always doing public health. I want them to know, ‘No matter where you go, no matter how your life or career transitions, you are always a part of this team.’”  

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Jodi-Ann Burey will be the guest speaker for the University of Michigan School of Public Health graduating Class of 2024 on May 2 at the historic Hill Auditorium.

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