Health & Medicine’s Emerging Leader Award recognizes leaders with fewer than 15 years of experience who are currently involved in community-based work with broadly defined public health implications.

Ezekiel Richardson, one of two 2023 recipients, is an emergency medicine physician in the city of Chicago, where he works with multiple organizations to prolong the lives of residents of underserved communities through medical care, organizing, and activism.  

He serves as medical liaison for the Kenwood Oakland Community Organization; Chicago community liaison for the national board of White Coats for Black Lives, a national physician activist organization opposing systemic racism; and sitting physician representative on Chicago’s Community Health Equity Coalition, a group of activists and community leaders that organize for community representation in health care.

“We must consider what health justice can be if led by those we must serve,” Ezekiel reflects of his roles, where he works to bring community concerns and issues, like the recent attempted closure of the historic Mercy Hospital on Chicago’s South Side, to the attention of medical students and physicians to promote advocacy and responsiveness to the needs of their communities.  

Ezekiel also works as a clinical educator and promotes antiracist and activist frameworks for physicians to better serve communities struggling against systemic racism. 

“Recognition of this work is near and dear to my heart,” he shares. “Even though I wear many hats, the one I wear most proudly is connector.”

Ezekiel has organized residents across multiple hospital systems within Chicago and has been a staunch advocate for the provision of reliable, quality health care for those who would be denied due to American systemic racism. 

Join us on September 20, 2023, as we connect honor these local health justice advocates, enjoy food and refreshments from The Fat Shallot, and celebrate 42 years of working together to advance health equity.