Freshman class

Health and justice

Jennifer Dacey Allen, assistant professor of nursing

Doctor of Science, Harvard School of Public Health

Specialization: Community-based programs in cancer prevention and control

Representative publication: “Reach Out for Health: A Church-Based Pilot Breast Cancer Education Program,” Health Education Monograph Series 2002

As an impressionable young nurse working with terminally ill cancer patients, I was deeply affected by their pain and suffering. After graduating from BC [in 1986], I joined the Jesuit International Volunteer Corps and worked as a nurse and teacher in Kingston, Jamaica. Living in a country where poverty is so prevalent and the gap between rich and poor so vast brought into sharp focus the impact of socio-economic and cultural forces on attaining and sustaining health. I came to see health as an issue of social justice.

Since completing a master’s degree in community health nursing at Boston College and a doctorate in public health at the Harvard School of Public Health, I have worked in both academic and community settings to address health disparities. I am excited about returning to BC to become part of a community that values world citizenship, in addition to academic achievement and research excellence.