Justice Collective Member Spotlight: Sharon Ross

Sharon Ross is an assistant professor in health and human development at the University of Pittsburgh School of Education. She also is director of the Latino Family Health Laboratory, where she promotes health equity in the Latinx community. Her responses have been edited for length and clarity.

Why did you join the PittEd Justice Collective? 

The opportunity to learn from and grow with experts in the areas of equity and justice was very appealing. I wanted to push myself to do more personally and professionally, and to be better for my students, my family, and my community.

How do you incorporate equity and justice into your own work as a professor?

In my research, I apply community-based participatory research approaches and adopt a promotores de salud (community health workers) model. The goal is to center community voices to promote health equity in the Latinx community. Our community- and home-based interventions empower promotores and participants to identify their own priorities, set their own goals, and create change in their own communities.

What do you enjoy about participating in the collective?

What I’ve most enjoyed most are the justice-focused “lunch and learns” and other equity, justice, and anti-racist events and programs which have pushed me to consider my role in current systems of injustice and how I can disrupt them. I always leave with a ton of notes, resources, and issues to learn more about.

Why is this work important to you?

The work of the Justice Collective is important to me because it moves from simply talking about diversity, equity, and justice to actually taking action and implementing solutions in our personal relationships, institutions, and other systems to dismantle oppression.

Learn More

Visit the PittEd Justice Collective website for updates and to submit your information to join the group’s mailing list.