NEVER STANDING ALONE

Lead where you are and
help shape what comes next

AHEA’s leadership opportunities are volunteer roles where members at every career stage help guide national work or serve as State, Community, or Campus Health Equity Leads.

Explore the roles

Apply for AHEA leadership opportunities

Currently accepting applications and reviewed at the beginning of every month.

AHEA’s leadership opportunities are an invitation to bring your experience, perspective, and judgment into the work of building what comes next.

Whether your strengths are rooted in a community, state, campus, research, professional practice, publishing, or public engagement, there is a place for your perspective here. Together, members can help shape the programs, publications, and lasting infrastructure needed to support health equity work - and the people carrying it forward.

You do not need to hold a senior title or follow one particular professional path to be considered. AHEA values professional expertise, community knowledge, lived experience, research, teaching, communication, organizing, and the judgment developed through doing the work itself. Not sure which role fits? Apply for the one that feels closest, and we’ll help you find the right match.

Leadership at a glance

Who can apply


Current AHEA members at any career stage, in any setting

Term


2 years from appointment, renewable by mutual agreement

Time commitment

2-3 hours a month for Leadership Network roles; 3-6 for national roles

Format


Volunteer and unpaid, with virtual meetings and focused work between them

Recognition


An official AHEA title for professional use and written verification of service

“What draws me most to AHEA is the opportunity to engage with public health professionals at an early stage of my career. As a medical student, the opportunity to serve on AHEA’s National Research and Insights Council allows me to directly shape work that supports the communities I hope to serve as a physician. This is something that could take years to access outside of an organization like AHEA. I’m grateful to be part of an organization so committed to engaging the next generation of advocates and leaders.”

— Haley Dion
Medical Student
AHEA Member

What leadership at AHEA means

AHEA leaders are invited to contribute thoughtfully, speak honestly, and help strengthen the work we are building together. Here’s what we ask of everyone who serves:

  • Bring a constructive and independent perspective

  • Participate consistently and follow through on agreed responsibilities

  • Review materials and respond within reasonable timelines

  • Communicate openly when their availability or capacity changes

  • Treat members, contributors, applicants, and community participants with care

  • Protect confidential, private, unpublished, and identifying information

  • Disclose relevant conflicts of interest or organizational restrictions

  • Represent their title, role, and authority accurately

  • Follow AHEA’s Terms of Use, Membership Terms, and applicable role expectations

These are volunteer advisory and service roles. Appointment does not create employment, ownership, legal governance rights, or independent authority to speak, enter agreements, or make commitments on behalf of AHEA or People’s Health Project.

Initial appointments begin when confirmed and continue for 2 years. Appointments may be renewed for additional 2-year terms by mutual agreement, based on continued interest, participation, capacity, and the evolving needs of AHEA.

When a leader completes their service, they will be asked to support a thoughtful handoff so the next person has the context, materials, and guidance needed to begin well.

AHEA’s national leadership bodies give members a meaningful role in strengthening four central areas of the organization: publishing, research, professional practice, and community-centered public engagement.

Members bring specialized knowledge, thoughtful review, and constructive perspective that help AHEA’s programs become stronger, more responsive, and more useful to the field.

National leadership opportunities

Bring focused guidance to the work AHEA is building

American Journal of Health Equity Editorial Board

Help establish a credible, useful, and accessible editorial foundation for the American Journal of Health Equity.

Best suited for members with: Experience in scholarly publishing, peer review, research, applied practice, methodology, writing, editing, or knowledge translation.

  • The American Journal of Health Equity is an open-access, peer-reviewed publication currently in development.

    The Editor-in-Chief will establish the journal’s central mission, core editorial direction, launch priorities, and major strategic decisions. The Founding Editorial Board will help test that direction, provide informed feedback, identify gaps and risks, recommend thoughtful adjustments, and help translate the approved vision into credible editorial standards and processes.

    • Provide feedback on the journal’s scope, priorities, and contribution to the field

    • Advise on article categories, submission standards, and editorial policies

    • Identify areas where the proposed direction should be clarified or adjusted

    • Help develop authorship, conflict-of-interest, correction, and publication practices

    • Help establish a fair and rigorous peer-review process

    • Advise on qualifications and guidance for future peer reviewers

    • Review selected policies, materials, and early submissions

    • Support the journal’s relevance across research, practice, policy, and community audiences

    The Board provides feedback, review, and recommendations. AHEA retains final editorial and organizational authority, including final decisions about direction, policies, appointments, acceptance standards, and publication.

    Peer-reviewer recruitment will begin after the journal’s initial editorial structure and review standards have been established.

    • Scholarly publishing or editorial work

    • Peer review

    • Public health or health equity research

    • Applied practice

    • Qualitative, quantitative, mixed-methods, or community-engaged research

    • Research ethics, methodology, policy, implementation, or translation

    • Writing, editing, or knowledge dissemination

    A terminal degree is not automatically required. Substantial editorial, methodological, research, or practice expertise may also demonstrate strong candidacy.

  • Approximately three to six hours per month, including meetings that may occur monthly during the primary development period.

AHEA National Research
and Insights Council

Help ensure AHEA’s research reflects both analytical rigor and the realities professionals and communities face.

Best suited for members with: Experience in research, epidemiology, evaluation, data, policy, methodology, community-engaged inquiry, or translating evidence for broader audiences.

  • The Council helps strengthen the rigor, relevance, and usefulness of AHEA’s research and national insight work.

    Its work may inform the State of Health Equity in America, the AHEA Health Fairness Index, the Health Equity Pulse, and related research and reporting initiatives.

    • Advise on research priorities and questions

    • Help shape frameworks, indicators, measures, and interpretation

    • Identify important evidence, data gaps, and methodological considerations

    • Review selected research plans, findings, and reporting approaches

    • Connect national patterns with professional and community realities

    • Support responsible interpretation and communication

    • Help make AHEA research credible, understandable, and useful

    The Council advises AHEA’s research work. Appointment does not guarantee authorship, publication credit, or control over final findings.

    • Epidemiology or population health

    • Public health, health services, or policy research

    • Program evaluation

    • Data analysis or visualization

    • Qualitative or mixed-methods research

    • Community-engaged or participatory research

    • Social determinants, systems, or implementation

    • Translating evidence for practice, policy, or public audiences

  • Approximately three to six hours per month, including virtual meetings every other month and focused review periods.

People’s Health Project National Leadership Council

Help guide community-centered work that brings lived experience, evidence, and public action together with care.

Best suited for members with: Experience in community engagement, public health practice, advocacy, policy, coalition building, health communication, facilitation, or campaign development.

  • The Council helps guide the development of community-centered campaigns, Community Health Impact Reports, Community Health Leadership Training, and public engagement through People’s Health Project.

    Its role is to help ensure that PHP remains grounded in careful listening, relevant evidence, responsible advocacy, and respect for the communities and stakeholders involved.

    • Advise on campaign-readiness and review standards

    • Strengthen the Community Health Impact Report process

    • Review selected campaign concepts, reports, or materials

    • Identify ethical, legal, stakeholder, communication, and community considerations

    • Help refine Community Health Leadership Training

    • Encourage focused, nonpartisan, and responsible public engagement

    • Help AHEA understand what communities and campaign leaders need

    The Council provides guidance and review. AHEA retains final authority over campaign approval, branding, platform access, publication, promotion, organizational commitments, and use of PHP resources.

    • Community engagement or organizing

    • Public health practice

    • Health communication

    • Advocacy, policy, or coalition building

    • Community-based research

    • Facilitation or training

    • Campaign or program development

    • Lived or community expertise relevant to health inequities

    Strong candidates should be able to balance urgency with care and public action with responsible stakeholder engagement.

  • Approximately three to six hours per month, including virtual meetings every other month and occasional campaign or report review.

AHEA Professional Practice and Innovation Council

Help keep AHEA’s practical support responsive to professionals’ needs and welcoming to more people.

Best suited for members with: Experience in applied practice, workforce development, program implementation, professional education, strategic communication, career development, innovation, or community building.

  • The Council helps keep AHEA’s practical support connected to changing professional needs and grounded in real-world health equity practice.

    Members help AHEA understand what professionals are navigating, strengthen the resources members use, elevate experience that can help others, and thoughtfully expand a member community that reflects the breadth of the field.

    • Advise on AHEA tools and Member Strategy Forum topics

    • Identify emerging practice challenges and member needs

    • Review selected Profiles in Health Equity Practice

    • Review selected Cases in Health Equity Practice

    • Help identify useful lessons, patterns, and examples from practice

    • Recommend practical resources and new forms of member support

    • Assess whether AHEA programs remain useful, relevant, and responsive

    • Help AHEA connect with practitioners whose experience and perspective would strengthen the community

    • Help AHEA understand which professional networks and settings it should be learning from

    • Advise on how AHEA can welcome new professionals in ways that feel credible and aligned with its mission

    This is an opportunity to help AHEA build authentic relationships and welcome professionals who may benefit from - and contribute meaningfully to - the community.

    Council review contributes to AHEA’s editorial and program processes. AHEA retains final decisions concerning publication, editing, programming, tools, outreach, and organizational priorities.

    • Applied public health or health equity practice

    • Program implementation or management

    • Workforce development

    • Professional education or facilitation

    • Strategic communication

    • Career development or organizational change

    • Innovation, improvement, or implementation science

    • Writing, editing, or translating practice-based knowledge

    • Professional association, network, or community engagement

  • Approximately three to six hours per month, including virtual meetings every other month and periodic review of Profiles, Cases, tools, or member resources.

The AHEA Leadership Network helps AHEA stay connected to the people, institutions, and priorities shaping health equity across states, communities, and campuses.

Leadership Network appointments are formal, limited-term roles. You won’t be asked to start a chapter, recruit members, collect dues, or run programming on your own. The role is to share what you’re seeing and help AHEA stay connected to it. More than one Lead may serve in the same state, community, or campus, so you’re welcome to apply even if you know someone else already has.

Network members bring insight from the places and settings they know - helping AHEA understand what is changing, recognize work that deserves greater visibility, and create stronger pathways for people to participate and contribute.

AHEA Leadership Network

Help AHEA listen more closely across places and communities

State Health Equity Lead

Help AHEA understand the changing health equity landscape within a state or U.S. territory - and connect more meaningfully with the people, institutions, and priorities shaping that work.

Best suited for members with:
A meaningful current connection to the state or territory and insight into part of its public health, policy, health care, academic, philanthropic, nonprofit, or community landscape.

    • Share insight into important state-level developments

    • Identify emerging needs, promising approaches, and gaps in support

    • Suggest topics for tools, forums, research, and member resources

    • Help identify potential partners, contributors, and leaders

    • Bring forward opportunities for Profiles, Cases, research, or People’s Health Project participation

    • Contribute to occasional state-focused work

    • A meaningful and current connection to the state or territory

    • Familiarity with at least part of its health equity landscape

    • Clear, thoughtful, and reliable communication

    • The ability to distinguish personal perspective from the experience of an entire state

    • An interest in building connections across sectors and professional roles

      A statewide title or government position is not required.

  • Approximately two to three hours per month, including quarterly virtual Leadership Network meetings.

Community Health Equity Lead

Help AHEA remain grounded in the concerns, strengths, relationships, and lived realities of a local, geographic, cultural, or identity-based community.

Best suited for members with:
A meaningful relationship with a community and experience listening, building trust, bringing people together, or helping community priorities receive greater attention.

    • Bring forward community health concerns and emerging priorities

    • Identify experience and practice that deserve greater visibility

    • Help AHEA understand local context, relationships, and stakeholder considerations

    • Suggest Profiles, Cases, forums, resources, or campaign opportunities

    • Connect interested community members and organizations with appropriate AHEA pathways

    • Contribute to occasional community-focused work

    • A meaningful and current relationship with the community

    • Experience in community engagement, organizing, service delivery, education, research, public health, or related work

    • An understanding of listening, consent, trust, and responsible representation

    • The ability to work across different perspectives without claiming to speak for everyone

    • Sound judgment and dependable follow-through

      Formal organizational leadership is not required. Community knowledge and trusted relationships may be as important as professional credentials.

  • Approximately two to three hours per month, including quarterly virtual Leadership Network meetings.

Campus Health Equity Lead

Help connect AHEA with the students, faculty, staff, researchers, practitioners, and emerging professionals shaping health equity work within a campus community.

Best suited for members with:
A current connection to a college, university, academic health center, or related institution and an interest in building connections across disciplines and career stages.

    • Share insight into campus health equity priorities and professional needs

    • Connect students, faculty, and staff with relevant AHEA opportunities

    • Identify topics for tools, forums, Profiles, Cases, research, or People’s Health Project work

    • Encourage participation across disciplines and career stages

    • Help bring visibility to promising campus and community-engaged work

    • Contribute to occasional campus-focused initiatives

    • A current affiliation with a college, university, academic health center, or related institution

    • Knowledge of the interests and constraints affecting part of the campus community

    • The ability to build connections across students, faculty, staff, and partners

    • Sound judgment when communicating about institutional matters

    • An interest in supporting emerging professionals as well as established practitioners

    Students, faculty members, staff members, researchers, administrators, and practitioners may all be strong candidates.

  • Approximately two to three hours per month, including quarterly virtual Leadership Network meetings.

Finding the right fit

There’s room for many kinds of leadership

AHEA uses one shared application for every leadership role. You’ll choose the opportunity that feels closest to your experience and interests, and answer one question about it. If you’re open to other roles too, just let us know on the application.

We look at each application as a whole, including:

•         Your experience, knowledge, or community connections

•         How your interests connect with the role’s purpose

•         Your current availability and capacity

•         How you communicate and work with others

•         Any conflicts of interest or organizational restrictions

•         What each group needs right now, and the value of bringing together different places, sectors, disciplines, career stages, and forms of expertise

If another role is a better match for your experience or availability, we may suggest it. We may also invite you to a short conversation to learn more about what you’d like to contribute.

Appointments are based on fit, capacity, and current openings, and roles may be filled at different times as each group grows. Whether or not you hold a formal appointment, every member has ways to contribute: sharing a Profile or Case in Health Equity Practice, joining Member Strategy Forums, or taking part in People’s Health Project.

How to apply

Leadership at AHEA is not about arriving with every answer. It is about bringing what you know, listening carefully, contributing honestly, following through on what you accept, and helping create something of lasting value for the field.

A shared application is used for all AHEA Leadership Network and national leadership opportunities. Please consider which opportunity most closely reflects your experience, interests, and current capacity. AHEA values many forms of knowledge and leadership, including professional expertise, community connection, lived experience, research, teaching, communication, organizing, and the judgment developed through doing the work itself.

Applications are accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis, and positions may be filled at different times as AHEA’s leadership bodies develop.

Thank you for considering how your experience and perspective might contribute to AHEA’s work. We’re grateful for your interest in helping carry it forward.

Become a member
Already a member? Apply here.
Not ready yet? Join an information session.

Your leadership counts toward your growth, too

The time you give to health equity is real professional work, and it should be recognized that way. If you are Certified in Public Health (CPH), your service as an AHEA leader may count toward your recertification.

The National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE) recognizes volunteer and leadership service as a recertification activity. Each hour of service can earn 1 credit, up to 20 credits in each 2-year cycle, which could cover most of the 30 credits you need. The hours you spend bringing your community’s experience into national conversations can also support your own professional development.

To count, your service should connect to the CPH content areas and go beyond your regular job. You report your hours directly to NBPHE when you recertify and decide which activities to claim. AHEA will provide a letter verifying your role, dates, and hours, so you have documentation if you need it.

For full details, see NBPHE’s CPH recertification requirements.