Amanda L Almond, PhD

Honoring Black physicians means honoring those who expanded the very boundaries of what medicine is and today, like most days, I’m thinking about Dr. Chester Pierce. He wasn’t just a Black… | Amanda L. Almond, PhD Honoring Black physicians means honoring those who expanded the very boundaries of what medicine is and today, like most days, I’m thinking about Dr. Chester Pierce. He wasn’t just a Black physician: he changed the definition of what counts as a health determinant. A psychiatrist, educator, and one of the first scholars to name racism itself as a public health threat; Dr. Pierce studied how everyday exposure to degrading messages, or has he coined it, “microaggressions,” accumulated into real physiological and psychological harm. He helped shape Sesame Street to counter racial bias in children’s media and advised institutions on equity (like the Olympics committee) long before it was a buzzword. He insisted that environment, culture, and meaning-making shape health just as surely as biology does. AMEN to that! Dr. Pierce asked a radical question that guides my work: What if the messages people receive about their worth are as consequential to health as the care they receive in a clinic? His legacy reminds us all that medicine is not only practiced in hospitals; it is practiced in classrooms, media, policy, and public discourse. If you're a psychologist and study microaggressions, be sure to cite Dr. Pierce (and not just contemporary scholars). His legacy can continue to pave the way towards an equitable future.

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CUNY colleague and exceptional human, Ben Shepard.

Why activists should take friendship seriously Benjamin Shepard’s book, “On Activism, Friendships, and Fighting,” documents decades of wisdom about the importance of friendship in movements.

Benjamin Shepard’s book, “On Activism, Friendships, and Fighting,” documents four decades of wisdom about the importance of friendship in political movements.

“ These people came along and decided that they wanna build a machine God, and then they end up stealing data, killing the environment, exploiting labor in that process.”
- @timnitgebru.bsky.social

OK "god bless america" and then naming every country in the americas from south to north is absolute king shit

Learning, right now, is the way we take care of one another. This semester, I redesigned an assignment because I couldn’t keep pretending certain topics are “too political” to teach. In my… | Amanda... Learning, right now, is the way we take care of one another. This semester, I redesigned an assignment because I couldn’t keep pretending certain topics are “too political” to teach. In my interdisc...

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YouTube video by stin 7 - Teach your Children - Crosby, Stills and Nash 1970

youtube.com/watch?v=zj8F...

osf.io/preprints/ps...

My new OSF preprint introduces a validated, theory-based Decisional Balance scale, capturing the real “head math” providers use to weigh costs vs benefits of equity action in medical settings. I’d love to hear how you think about measuring readiness for this kind of change!

Link in comments.

New preprint is live on OSF!

What Race Means for Health among Black Americans: How Microaggressions Shape Self-Efficacy and Readiness for Behavior Change

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How we talk about health determines who gets to be healthy.

#Preprint #HealthEquity #RacialHealthDisparities #OpenScience

Waning wolf 🌖

Life can get all up in your ass, baby YOU better work it out.

-Stakes is High, De La Soul

Winter break and boat loads of photos.

YouTube video by Catskills Agrarian Alliance Foodshed Capital x Catskills Agrarian Alliance

youtube.com/shorts/qEALJ...

Yup. That checks out.

CUNY Leaders Named to Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani’s Transition Committees – The City University of New York Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has appointed 20 faculty and staff from the City University of New York to his Transition Committees. They join more than 400 New Yorkers selected to provide critical person...

www.cuny.edu/news/cuny-le...

Mama I made it!

Sexism hurts everyone. Though mechanisms can seem complicated, this article makes very clear how it’s all playing out. Online. Scapegoating women as a cause for male suffering.

Oh, and I’m one of the experts who helps explain it :)

😍🥰Absolutely!! Thank you for work and sharing yourself via these precious gifts. It always means so much. I find myself reading parts aloud to my daughter who adores flowers and gems and faeries 🥹

And I arrive at #3 after devouring the first two. These books have been an absolute JOY! Every character a gift. The metaphor in magic and the use of the elements 👌I’m smitten.
And to get a @celestinemartin.bsky.social signed copy?! It’s nearly happily ever after.. the highlight of me week :)

🌍 This #OpenAccess book—edited by Julia Bentz, Jelena Ristić Trajković—explores the potential of transdisciplinary, art-science approaches in addressing current social-ecological complexities within educational contexts. bit.ly/43T2nvd #SciArt #AcademicSky #BookSky

Zohran Mamdani knows how to win Not just in New York — Mamdani's campaign shows how to inspire voters nationwide

The Democratic establishment's ugly reaction to Zohran Mamdani reveals an unpleasant truth.

They would rather lose elections than change.

The addiction to rich donors and consultants is killing the party. But Mamdani shows a path out. An analysis.

www.salon.com/2025/11/03/z...

Growing roots: the role of collective community gardening in cultural food insecurity and social integration of African immigrants in Alberta, Canada - BMC Public Health Background In western countries such as Canada, immigrants are experiencing cultural food insecurity - that is the inability to acquire, afford, and access one' ethnic foods and community gardens have emerged as potential area for addressing cultural food insecurity. However, limited knowledge exists on the role of collective community gardens in addressing the cultural food needs of immigrant communities. Methods We conducted a community-based participatory research (CBPR) informed by an Afrocentric lens using quantitative and qualitative research methodologies. Data collection involved an online survey (n = 119) which was co-developed and co-administered with our community partners– Sinkunia Community Development Organization (SCDO). Semi-structured, in-depth interviews (IDI) were also conducted with purposefully sampled participants (n = 10) to obtain nuanced narratives. This study included Black identifying African immigrants from sub-Saharan countries. Results High prevalence of food insecurity (75.6%) was observed in the survey participants, higher than the general Canadian household prevalence rate. Participants recalled experiencing food insecurity ranging from mild (39.5%) to moderate (26.1%) and severe (10.1%) food insecurity. High prevalence of cultural food insecurity (80.7%) was also observed with most participants reporting some level of deprivation of cultural foods. However, participants demonstrated resilience and adaptability in maintaining their cultural food-ways amid these challenges. Collective community gardens allowed immigrant communities to: (a) cultivate connections through food production (‘seeds of sovereignty’); (b) build intergenerational bridges (‘seeds of identity’); (c) grow together across generations; and (d) grow strong to embody health and wellbeing. Conclusion The findings contribute to a growing body of evidence on the embodied benefits of community gardens for food security and social place-making of immigrant populations. High interest and engagement in gardening activities in the population suggests potential for expansion of community-led initiatives to support social and cultural integration of immigrant. This is important to Alberta’s and to Canada’s current and future sustainable economic and social growth.

A study published in BMC Public Health highlights how COVID-19 worsened food insecurity among African immigrants in Canada and how community gardens emerged as vital spaces for access to fresh food, cultural connection and well-being.

#MedSky

My beautiful and dear childhood friend tied the knot. Old friends came together to celebrate and adore our girl. It was beautiful.

Workers Are Losing Over $4 Billion in Unspent FSA Money a Year An exclusive Money analysis finds that 47% of workers failed to drain their FSA balances in 2023, adding up to billions in lost money.

I've been harping on using FSA funds because workers lose $4 BILLION in unspent funds each year. I don't think many people even know about the FSA store as just one example of a simpler way to spend some of that money. Use it for others if you don't need it yourself.

money.com/unspent-fsa-...

It's really OK to change your mind when new facts are presented. It really is.

What I don't have in experience, I make up for in integrity.

And what Andrew Cuomo lacks in integrity, he could never make up for with experience.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

“We may be witnessing the emergence of a population-level acquired immune deficiency — not sexually transmitted, but airborne.”

That line isn’t from a tweet. It’s from a peer-reviewed paper in AJPM Focus (2025).

My paper asserts the power of applied psychological science to achieve measurable progress towards anti-racist practices and potentially transform organizations to achieve improved health outcomes for Black patients. Give it a read!

rdcu.be/eKsC4

My paper asserts the power of applied psychological science to achieve measurable progress towards anti-racist practices and potentially transform organizations to achieve improved health outcomes for Black patients. Give it a read!

rdcu.be/eKsC4