Mariko Lockhart and Emma Sanchez-Vaznaugh bring health equity and racial justice expertise to the PI Board

Mariko Lockhart is the Director of the Seattle Office for Civil Rights, which coordinates the Race and Social Justice Initiative, a citywide effort to end institutional racism in City government. Additionally, SOCR advances race and social justice through policy work with elected officials; and supports four commissions, including the LGBTQ Commission, Women's Commission, Human Rights Commission, and Commission for People with disAbilities. The office also enforces federal and local civil rights laws on illegal discrimination, along with Seattle's All-gender Restroom Ordinance, the Ban on Providing Conversion Therapy to Minors, and the Fair Chance Housing Ordinance.

Prior to serving in this role, Mariko worked at the Aspen Institute's Forum for Community Solutions on a national effort to prepare young people who are out of work and out of school for employment opportunities with a focus on those provided by a corporate coalition of more than 50 U.S.-based companies. Her leadership roles have included Director of the City of Seattle's Youth Violence Prevention Initiative and President & State Director of Communities In Schools of New Jersey, where she led the state affiliate of the nation's largest organization dedicated to keeping kids in school and helping them succeed in life. Mariko identifies as Black and Japanese and uses she/her pronouns.

Emma Sanchez-Vaznaugh, Sc.D., M.P.H., is a Professor in the San Francisco State University College of Health and Human Services, Department of Public Health. She received a B.S. from the University of San Francisco, an M.P.H. from SFSU, and a doctorate of science in Social Epidemiology from Harvard University’s School of Public Health. Emma is also affiliated faculty at the Health Equity Institute within SFSU and the Center for Health Equity within the University of California San Francisco. Emma is a social epidemiologist whose research focuses on three interrelated strands: social inequalities in health, with a primary focus on maternal and child health; and the extent to which policies and community environments influence population patterns of disease overall as well as disparities by race/ethnicity, immigration status, and socioeconomic factors.

Emma’s research includes studies on racial/ethnic disparities in maternal birth outcomes and the influences of nutrition and physical education policies for schools and community environments on racial or ethnic childhood obesity disparities. She has received research support from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (Healthy Eating Research, Active Living Research, and Physical Activity Research Center), the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, and the National Institutes of Health. Emma currently receives research support from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and the RWJF Healthy Eating Research program to examine the influences of nutrition policies for schools on childhood obesity.

I hope you’ll join me in welcoming Mariko and Emma!