Uniting Community Voices for Change
A Juneteenth inspired, in-person community gathering with live entertainment, hors d’oeuvres, and meaningful dialogue featuring Boston leaders and advocates for health, education, housing, and racial equity, Dr. Thea James, VP of Mission of Boston Medical Center, and Rahsaan Hall, President & CEO of Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts. Hosted by Children’s Services of Roxbury President & CEO Sandra McCroom.
Monday, June 16
6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m.
Thelma D. Burns Building
575 Warren St, Boston, MA 02121
Thea James, MD, MPH, MBA
VP of Mission
Boston Medical Center
Thea James, MD, MPH, MBA, is Vice President of Mission, Associate Chief Medical Officer and Co-Executive Director of the Health Equity Accelerator at Boston Medical Center. She is Professor of Emergency Medicine and Director of the Violence Intervention Advocacy Program at BMC. Dr. James is a founding member of the Health Alliance for Violence Intervention (the HAVI). In 2011 she was appointed to Attorney General Eric Holder’s National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence.
As vice president of mission, Dr. James partners with caregivers throughout BMC and coordinates BMC’s relationships and strategic alliances with a wide range of local, state, and national organizations and partners across sectors, to meet the full spectrum of essentials that enables patients and communities to thrive. The intentionality is to foster a strategic ecosystem of growth, innovation, transformation, community collaboration, and effective models of care that are rooted in equity, clinical excellence and economic justice.
Dr. James served on the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine 2009-2012, where she served as chair of the Licensing Committee. She is 2008 awardee of Boston Public Health Commission’s Mulligan Award for public service, and a 2012 recipient of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Role Model Award. She received The Boston Business Journal Healthcare Hero award in 2012 &2015. She was 2014 recipient of the Schwartz Center Compassionate Care Award. The Boston Chamber of commerce awarded Dr. James with the Pinnacle Award in 2015, which honors women in business and the professions. In 2020 Dr. James received the American College of Emergency Medicine Lifetime Achievement Award. Also, in 2020, The History Project presented her with a History Maker Award. Dr. James recently received the inaugural 2020 Thea James Social Emergency Medicine Award from the American College of Emergency Physicians.
Dr. James’ passion is in Public Health both domestically and globally. She was a Supervising Medical Officer on the Boston Disaster Medical Assistance Team (MA-1 DMAT), under the Department of Health and Human Services. She has deployed to post 9/11 in NYC, Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, Bam, Iran after the 2003 earthquake, and Port-Au-Prince Haiti after the earthquake of 2010. Dr. James traveled to Haiti with MA-1 DMAT one day after the 2010 earthquake.
A graduate of Georgetown University School of Medicine, James trained in Emergency Medicine at Boston City Hospital, where she was a chief resident.
Coming Soon! Check back after the event for videos.
Rahsaan Hall
President & CEO
Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts
Rahsaan Hall is President & CEO of the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts (ULEM). There he leads ULEM’s efforts to enable communities to overcome racial and social barriers that cause economic inequities, which are exacerbated by sexual and domestic violence, by creating employment and economic development opportunities. He is also the founder and principal of Rahsaan Hall Consulting where he provides experienced racial justice and criminal law reform advocacy focusing on community engagement, policy advocacy and racial equity. He recently ran for Plymouth County District Attorney, on a platform progressive reform which garnered the support and endorsements of local and national politicians and celebrities.
Previously, Rahsaan served as the Director of the Racial Justice Program for the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts. The Racial Justice Program focused on legislative advocacy, litigation and community engagement on issues that deeply impact communities of color and historically disenfranchised communities. Rahsaan also managed the ACLU of Massachusetts’ What a Difference a DA Makes campaign to educate state residents about the power and influence of district attorneys. He also led coalitions on critical police and criminal law reform efforts and expanding access and protections for voting rights.
Prior to joining the ACLU of Massachusetts, Rahsaan was the Deputy Director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice where his work included policy and legislative advocacy, community outreach, and maintaining a litigation caseload of voting rights, police misconduct and public accommodations cases. He also served as an Assistant District Attorney for the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office where a significant portion of his work included his time in the Safe Neighborhood Initiative and Senior Trial Units where he prosecuted drug, gang, and homicide cases.
Rahsaan is a highly sought-after public speaker and has received multiple awards and recognitions for his work including Massachusetts Black Lawyers Association 2024 Trailblazer Award, Boston Magazine’s Top Lawyers 2021, the Equal Justice Coalition’s 2019 Beacon of Justice Award, Get Connected ‘s 2018 GK100 Boston’s Most Influential People of Color, Massachusetts Communities Action Network 2018 Carry if On Leadership Award.
Rahsaan also serves on the boards of the Who We Are Project and the Hyams Foundation. Rahsaan is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. He is a graduate of The Ohio State University (B.A.), Northeastern University School of Law (J.D.) and Andover Newton Theological School (M.Div.). He is an ordained reverend in the African Methodist Episcopal Church
Coming Soon! Check back after the event for videos.