Health Center News & Information
Dr. John W. Hatch is a nationally known public health leader and pillar of the Community Health Center Movement. His life’s work has focused on creating a more equitable healthcare system for all, especially people marginalized by institutional and systemic racism.
A continuation of his civil rights work that started with Medgar Evers’s weekly meetings, Dr. Robert Smith cofounded the first rural Community Health Center in Mound Bayou, Mississippi.
Janie B. Geer’s community activism knew no limits. She fought aggressively for the health needs of those without a voice.
Jessie Collins Trice, BSN, MPH, was a former Chairperson of NACHC’s Board of Directors and a trailblazer in the Community Health Center Movement.
Dr. Marilyn H. Gaston learned about inequities in health care early in life. She went on to become a pediatrician, researcher, and to hold leadership positions including Assistant Surgeon General and Rear Admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service.
Dr. Aaron Shirley was a health care innovator and civil rights activist who dedicated his life and career to ending the extreme disparities that exist in America in health care and health outcomes due simply to an individual’s race, ethnicity, income, or zip code. His creativity and commitment to improving the health of underserved communities …
From his role helping to found NACHC to his current position in Congress, Rep. Danny K. Davis has committed his career to creating a nation where all people have access to affordable health care.
Dr. Lula (L.C.) Dorsey was a civil rights activist and a leading force at the first rural Community Health Center.
Dr. John Hatch grew up in the Jim Crow era and went on to develop the transformative model of community-based primary health care.
Few may realize the remarkable history behind the Civil Rights Movement and its role in launching Community Health Centers. The narrative of how this happened is eloquently told in a new book, Out in the Rural: A Mississippi Health Center and its War on Poverty (the title is borrowed from a short film of the …