In a groundbreaking advancement for public health education and advocacy, the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) has inaugurated the Byllye Avery Professorship in Sexual & Reproductive Justice. Officially launched on November 3, 2025, this professorship marks the first dedicated academic position in the United States explicitly centered on sexual and reproductive justice (SRJ). The announcement was celebrated amidst a distinguished assembly of leaders and philanthropists in the field, including the venerable Byllye Avery, a seminal figure in reproductive justice advocacy, Loretta Ross, Dr. Natalia Kanem, and Abigail Disney.
Byllye Avery’s legacy, founded on nearly five decades of dedication to women’s health and feminist leadership, notably through her establishment of the Black Women’s Health Imperative, serves as a cornerstone for this professorship. This academic position is intended to catalyze transformative scholarship, pedagogy, and public engagement within SRJ. The professorship not only honors Avery’s visionary work but reinforces CUNY SPH’s strategic commitment to justice-oriented frameworks in public health education, which prioritize structural change and community-led health solutions.
The professorship will be housed within the CUNY SPH Sexual & Reproductive Justice Hub, a multidisciplinary platform established in 2024 that integrates research, training, and advocacy endeavors aimed at dismantling systemic inequities. This hub promotes community-driven approaches that foreground intersectionality, systemic violence, and the socio-political determinants shaping reproductive health outcomes. It cultivates an academic environment where scholar-activists can generate impactful knowledge and strategize sustainable health justice innovations.
CUNY SPH’s initiative through the professorship involves the advancement of rigorous scholarship that centers the lived experiences and health inequities faced by Black women, Indigenous women, and other marginalized communities disproportionately impacted by systemic oppression. By emphasizing culturally responsive methodologies and justice-based epistemologies, this academic role targets the development of innovative public health solutions. These efforts aim to improve equitable access to reproductive health services domestically and globally, a critical advancement against prevailing disparities.
Integral to the professorship is the commitment to expand and refine curricula that address the complex, intersectional dimensions of sexual and reproductive justice. This pedagogical evolution transcends traditional public health models by infusing social justice theory, human rights frameworks, and activism-oriented praxis into academic training. The professorship seeks to equip emerging public health professionals with analytical tools to critique and transform oppressive systems that undermine autonomy, health equity, and rights-based approaches to sexual and reproductive healthcare.
Byllye Avery emphasized the transformative potential vested in the next generation of student-activists: “Today’s students and activists are coming in with a fire in their belly,” she stated. This professorship aims to embolden them through rigorous academic training and experiential learning, fostering the development of scholar-activists capable of effectuating systemic change both within local communities and on a global scale. The initiative exemplifies an investment in the future of justice-centered public health leadership.
Applications for this prestigious professorship are currently open on CUNY’s LinkedIn platform, signaling an active recruitment of scholars whose work embodies a commitment to justice-driven inquiry and advocacy. This opportunity situates CUNY SPH at the nexus of academic innovation and social justice, inviting public health experts to join a pioneering movement that elevates marginalized voices and perspectives within research and policy paradigms.
Further enhancing the educational impact of the professorship, CUNY SPH will launch a Master of Public Health degree in Sexual and Reproductive Justice and Health (SRJH) starting January 2026. This program, one of the few nationwide, integrates the foundational principles of reproductive justice as articulated by a consortium of Black women leaders in 1994. The SRJH curriculum is intentionally constructed to embed intersectionality, community engagement, and systemic change theory into comprehensive public health training, thereby responding to urgent calls for educational reform in reproductive health.
The SRJH degree is designed to impart both theoretical grounding and practical skills for translating justice-oriented principles into effective policies and interventions. Graduates will be uniquely qualified to advocate for reproductive autonomy, dismantle structural barriers, and champion equitable health rights across diverse populations. This program represents a decisive step toward rectifying historical neglect and systemic bias in reproductive health education and services.
Together, the Sexual & Reproductive Justice Hub, the Byllye Avery Professorship, and the SRJH MPH concentration position CUNY SPH as a vanguard institution reshaping the landscape of sexual and reproductive health education. This triad forms a synergistic ecosystem that fosters interdisciplinary collaboration, community partnership, and activist scholarship. As a result, the school is poised to lead a transformative movement that reconfigures public health priorities by centering justice, equity, and human rights in the global reproductive health agenda.
CUNY SPH’s deepened commitment to sexual and reproductive justice reflects a paradigm shift in public health education, moving beyond reductive biomedical models towards healing approaches that are holistic, intersectional, and rooted in social justice activism. This focus acknowledges the inseparability of health outcomes from socio-political contexts, particularly the historical and ongoing impacts of racism, colonialism, and gender oppression. Through this professorship and related academic innovations, CUNY SPH cultivates an urgent and necessary discourse on the future of reproductive justice and public health.
The establishment of this professorship arrives at a critical moment when reproductive rights and health equity face increasing threats globally. It offers a beacon of hope and concrete academic infrastructure for sustaining and advancing movements that demand bodily autonomy, equitable health access, and systemic reform. By embedding these values within training and scholarship, CUNY SPH actively contributes to a future where reproductive justice is an integral and non-negotiable component of public health.
Media inquiries regarding this pioneering initiative can be directed to Katherine Hartley, Press Relations Manager at the CUNY SPH Sexual & Reproductive Justice Hub (katherine.hartley@sph.cuny.edu). As this new chapter unfolds, CUNY SPH reiterates its foundational mission to promote healthier populations through knowledge, advocacy, and social justice.
Subject of Research: Sexual and Reproductive Justice, Public Health Education, Health Equity
Article Title: CUNY SPH Launches Nation’s First Byllye Avery Professorship in Sexual & Reproductive Justice
News Publication Date: November 3, 2025
Web References:
- https://sph.cuny.edu/
- https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/4309351389/
- http://sph.cuny.edu/research/srj-hub/
Image Credits: CUNY SPH
Keywords: Public health, Feminism, Sexuality
