Chapin Hall

When Dr. Nicole Ford switched from a microbiology major, her work went macro. She jumped from the confines of a petri dish and tiny organisms that cause disease to whole populations of people and working to promote good health and prevent disease. She ultimately knew being isolated in a lab wasn’t for her because she “missed people.” But it wasn’t just random people who inspired her to change majors. Learning more about the lives of three generations of women in her family—her “big mama” (great-grandma), “granny” (grandma), and mom—and particularly their health struggles—pushed her to focus on public health.

“Seeing their experiences with health, like having cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and all these things that I soon learned were preventable just got me passionate about health,” she said.

As she began her community health track as an undergraduate, many things started to click for her, like the connection between food deserts and health. Growing up in Pleasant Grove (an area in Dallas, Texas), she remembers when neighborhood became food deserts after many grocery stores turned into discount shops.

“Thankfully, we had a car, so we could go to Walmart or something but if you didn’t have a car, your nearest grocery store was either a Save-a-Lot or a convenience store,” she said. “Learning why that happened is what got me.”

“Youth are so misunderstood—especially Black and Brown youth. They’re always looked at like, ‘They’re just irritated; they’re rowdy!’ and it’s like, no, once you understand them and you listen to them, they’re fine.”

Physical health wasn’t the only thing that drew her in. When it came time to find her niche in her Master’s program, she kept coming back to mental health. “Seeing mental health issues within my family, that’s what got me interested in focusing on mental health within health promotion. It was so personal to me and my family, and it would make me emotional.” While discussing this with one of her professors, he told her that most of the time researchers study the things they’ve experienced, so she continued focusing on Black mental health, particularly within youth, as the onset of mental illness is usually around age 14. That’s when she started volunteering at the National Alliance of Mental Illness (NAMI) of Brazos Valley.

While she was a graduate research assistant at Texas A&M, she got the opportunity through NAMI to teach a course on dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)—a cognitive-behavioral treatment designed for adults and teens with difficulty regulating their emotions—at the local alternative school for middle schoolers. Knowing the negative reputation often associated with teens, Ford was quick to characterize her experience as “beautiful,” and she stressed that youth are often inappropriately labeled as difficult.

“Youth are so misunderstood—especially Black and Brown youth. They’re always looked at like, ‘They’re just irritated; they’re rowdy!’ and it’s like, no, once you understand them and you listen to them, they’re fine.”

Clearly the students got a lot out of their time with Ford, too. They would ask her repeatedly if she’d be back, and their principal was elated to report the progress he witnessed to her.

“He saw several students counting to 10 in the hallway—a technique I taught them—to self-regulate their emotions and deescalate stressful situations, and it was just so sweet and satisfying to hear.”

As she dove deeper into researching Black mental health, she started working at a community mental health center. Working there had a major effect on her personally, helping her open up. Having a caring supervisor who was very open about mental health conversations helped her explore her own mental health and seek therapy. “Therapy is a great thing, and everyone can benefit from it. As they say, even your therapist has a therapist.”

Again, this led back to her family. Her mom had worked through her own mental health diagnoses and took care of herself. She got the help she needed so she could be the best mom she could be and was there to bolster Ford as she started unpacking things in therapy. “We have a great relationship! She is always my number one supporter.”

Ford ultimately moved from Texas to Louisville to pursue her PhD in public health at the University of Louisville’s School of Public Health and Information Sciences. Just after she arrived, Breonna Taylor was killed by police. “Her murder shook me to the core. Watching tanks go towards protesters and being in the protest. . . thankfully my school had free mental health services.”

This tragic event was another experience that deepened Ford’s commitment to equity. Just as her professor during her Master’s work had encouraged her to pursue her specialty based on what spoke to her and her own experiences, she chose to write about the connection between the anti-literacy laws of the 1800s and modern-day DEI bans and how this affects Black self-determination in public health.

One of the main differences between anti-literacy laws and contemporary DEI bans, Ford noted, is the confusion baked into many of today’s DEI bans. “I was really seeing verbatim how racist the anti-literacy laws were and how blatant they were. Many DEI bans are misleading in the way they’re written. Often the first few pages are very severe and meant to intimidate, but then when you dig in, there are exceptions, like research and coursework are okay.”

For Ford, watching corporations that jumped on the bandwagon to support DEI efforts after George Floyd was murdered now back away from those commitments underscores the importance of research and paying attention to who is doing it.

“Once DEI’s not a buzzword, it’s like, let’s just slip it under the rug. And so, it’s really just showing how important it is to keep research involved and especially when you’re thinking about different theories. Are you citing Black and Brown or even queer identities? Since there’s now intense pushback and oppressive tactics, it’s vital to remain committed to our purpose as equity scholars.”

“I really just feel my ancestors in everything I do. I know I’m on the backs of them, so I just want to make them proud.”

When it came time to apply for postdoc positions, Ford was seeking a role where she could do just that. Two words in the Chapin Hall job description made her jump to apply: Equity First.

Equity has been the main theme throughout her studies and early career. At the University of Louisville, where she earned her PhD, she was a doctoral research associate at the School of Public Health and Information Sciences’ Health Equity Innovation Hub. Just prior to joining Chapin Hall, Ford served as Associate Director of Participatory Action Research (PAR) at Beloved Community’s Data, Research, Impact, and Policy Center (DRIP Center). She created and led PAR Houston, a $450,000 three-year grant funded by JP Morgan Chase, to explore the socio-economic challenges of Black and Latine communities in Houston during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“Equity has always been just ingrained in me through my many amazing mentors like Dr. Brown at the University of Louisville,” she said. “I just decided to look for a place where I’m supposed to be that would accept me for who I am. I’ve been in this field for ten years, and I’m not going to change my principles as government administrations change. I’m thankful that Chapin Hall stayed true to their commitment and their equity principles, and I felt like this was the right place for me and they agreed.”

Now that she’s on board at Chapin Hall, she’s excited to work with policy teams doing policy analysis and contributing to publications like policy briefs. Still, you can’t take the researcher out of her. She’s eager to do groundwork and data collection with partner organizations—all through an equity lens.

“I really am just so passionate about research, and I take it very seriously, especially being a Black woman working in Black communities and, really, in any community I’ve worked with. It’s very special to me and I know they’re expecting goodness of me, so I always want to make sure I deliver. I really just feel my ancestors in everything I do. I know I’m on the backs of them, so I just want to make them proud.”