Renée Branch-Canady Ph.D., MPA

Dr. Renée Branch-Canady serves as Chief Executive Officer of MPHI. Prior to joining MPHI, Dr. Canady served as Health Officer and Director of the Ingham County Health Department, where she led the expansion of the Ingham County Health Equity Social Justice program. She has held faculty and leadership positions at Michigan State University where she continues to serve as an assistant professor in the Division of Public Health.

She has been recognized as a national thought leader in the areas of health inequities and disparities, cultural competence and social justice. Her equity and justice expertise has been applied in narrative work with both the American Medical Association (AMA) and the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO).

Dr. Canady serves on numerous national boards, review panels and advisory groups including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) County Health Rankings Scientific Advisory Group, the National Collaborative for Health Equity Advisory Committee and the National 10 Essential Public Health Services Task Force. She was appointed to the State of Michigan Coronavirus Task Force on Racial Disparities by Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

Dr. Canady earned her Ph.D. in Medical Sociology from Michigan State University, a master’s degree in Public Administration from Western Michigan University and a bachelor’s degree in Public Health Nutrition from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.