Building Community and Accountibility
Where passion meets purpose. We’re on a mission to dismantle racism, build power with communities, and create a healthier future for all. Join us in rewriting the narrative of public health with heart and equity at its core.
About ARCH Center
Led by inaugural Director Dr. Wendy E. Barrington, the ARCH Center is a community-driven academic hub focused on disrupting structural racism and discrimination across diverse populations and contexts. Sparked by concerned campus and community activists in 2016, UW administration seeded over $1 million to establish the ARCH Center which will serve as an accountability mechanism for the continued anti-racist transformation of the UW School of Public Health and beyond. We enter the knowledge and experience of those originally targeted by U.S. colonization to reveal key mechanisms of structural racism and discrimination that continue to impact all our communities across systems, sectors, and settings. From this stance, the ARCH Center is working with communities to build a data-informed resource of effective anti-racist strategies for health to serve the humanity and liberation of all people.
Wendy E. Barrington, PhD, MPH | Director
Vision, Mission, and Values
We envision a world where health justice is prioritized to serve the humanity and liberation of all people. Our mission is to co-create and test strategies that disrupt racism in health while amplifying the knowledge and experiences of Black and Indigenous peoples in our collaborative approach to community health equity action. Our approach is guided by the following values:
• Health equity
• Cultural wealth
• Community voice and self-determination
• Systems and institutional accountability
Our Founding and Founders
It is important to share the story for how the ARCH Center was born because that narrative has shaped how we are spinning up its structure and honing its vision, mission, and values. This truth-telling also serves as a sustained call and commitment for accountability to address institutionalized racism and anti-Blackness, specifically, at the University of Washington School of Public Health (SPH) and beyond.
In 2016, campus police responded to a group of men, all either SPH members, program participants, or their guests who were standing outside while Black. The encounter resulted in one man being taken into custody and the others left without explanation or certainty of that man’s continued health and well-being. When this incident was shared with SPH leadership, the concerns were neither heard nor addressed. The dismissal of the concern heightened trauma responses which were then met with another avoidable police encounter. A departmental building was locked down and armed police were stationed inside for several days.
Students, faculty, staff, and community members rose up and demanded repair and assurances that SPH would commit to and be accountable for anti-racist transformation. The ARCH Center was the structure demanded by those constituents and the dean and provost at the time seeded over $1M for its establishment. Multiple national searches later, Dr. Wendy E. Barrington was universally selected as the ARCH Center inaugural director in 2021.
ARCH Staff
Meet Our Team
Get to know the passionate minds driving change at ARCH Center. Our diverse team of experts bring a wealth of experience in public health, anti-racism advocacy, and community engagement. Meet the faces behind our mission, dedicated to dismantling racism and advancing community health for a brighter future.
Dr. Wendy E. Barrington
Kisna Prado
Carolyn Fan
Matthew Frank (Diné)
Alcess Nonot
Tiara Ranson
Brittany Oladipupo
Zyna Bakari
Deeqa Mah
Kenzie Locke
Dr. Wendy E. Barrington
Kisna Prado
Carolyn Fan
Matthew Frank (Diné)
Alcess Nonot
Tiara Ranson
Brittany Oladipupo
Zyna Bakari
Deeqa Mah
Kenzie Locke
Dr. Wendy Barrington (she/her) serves as the inaugural Director of the ARCH Center and is a double-tenured faculty in the Schools of
Alcess Nonot (she/her) is a Research Coordinator at the ARCH Center. She graduated with degrees in Human Development and Biology with a
Brittany Oladipupo (she/her) is an Operations Specialist at the ARCH Center. She earned her Master of Public health with a concentration in
Deeqa Mah (she/her) is a Research Coordinator at the ARCH Center. She earned her MPH from the University of Washington where her
Kisna Prado (she/her/ella) is a Graduate Research Assistant at the ARCH Center and a 2024 MPH graduate of the Community Oriented Public
Kenzie Lock (she/her) is a Communications Specialist within the Department of Health Systems and Population Health at the University of Washington who
Scholars in Residence & Faculty Afilliates
The Scholars in Residence program supports leading scholars and practitioners who are advancing anti-racism in public health. These distinguished community voices spend a designated period at the center to engage in academic, research, or creative activities that align with the center’s mission. Our faculty affiliates contribute expertise and skills to ongoing projects at the center. Learn more about them and their work below.
Dr. Elle Lett
Dr. Megha Ramaswamy
Dr. Jeanie Santaularia
Dr. Keeonna Harris
Dr. Elle Lett ( Dr./she/her) is a Black, transgender woman, statistician – epidemiologist and physician – in – training. Through her work,
Dr.Megha Ramaswamy (she/her) serves as Professor and Chair of Health Systems and PopulationHealth at the University of Washington School of Public Health.
Dr. Keeonna Harris (she/her) is Black woman, born and raised in Watts, and other parts of South – Central Los Angeles. She
ARCH Center Structure
The “flower of power” is a shared governance structure to integrate the voice and perspectives of constituent communities into the decision-making that drives the strategic direction and actions of the ARCH Center. The flower of power “petals” are: the Black Advisory Collective (BLAC), the Indigenous Advisory Collective (IAC), the Student Advisory Board (SAB), and the Community Accountability Board (CAB).
Members of BLAC and IAC include faculty, staff, students, and community members who identify as Black and/or Indigenous. Members of SAB include students from the SPH as well as from other schools and colleges across the UW Seattle campus. The CAB is in the initial formative stages and is envisioned to include leaders from community-based organizations or groups who are partnering with the ARCH Center on anti-racism projects or who are directly impacted by issues or actions related to the scholarship of ARCH Center staff or affiliates.
