Born and raised in Los Angeles, Dr. LaShyra “Lash” Nolen is a writer, healer, and physician activist. She is a primary care internal medicine resident physician at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital where her work centers antiracism in medical education and policy interventions that promote the healing and liberation of marginalized populations. A leading voice for health equity, her work has been featured in the New England Journal of Medicine and Teen Vogue, among others.

Dr. Nolen is the founding executive director of We Got Us, a youth and student-led grassroots community empowerment project with the mission to increase access to education and healing for marginalized communities. She has served as a member of the White House Health Equity Roundtable, an advising editor for Harvard’s Perspectives in Primary Care medical journal, and a member of the Encoding Equity Alliance advisory board.  

Dr. Nolen graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a B.S. in Health and Human Science. After graduation, she was selected as a Fulbright Scholar in Galicia, Spain and served as an AmeriCorps member. She graduated cum laude from Harvard Medical School where she became the first Black woman elected as student council president. She also obtained her masters in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government. She was a Center for Public Leadership Fellow and Harvard Presidential Public Service Fellow, where she advised several local and state government public policy initiatives. For her promise as a leader in public policy, she was awarded the Virtuosity award by the Kennedy School Black Alumni Association. 

Dr. Nolen’s work has also earned her the honor of being named a Forbes “30 Under 30” Leader in Healthcare, a U.S. Public Health Service Excellence in Public Health awardee, the 2020 National Minority Quality Forum’s youngest “40 under 40 Leader in Minority Health”, among other honors. In her free time, you can find her traveling, writing, doing something in nature, spending time with her loved ones, or boxing—where she competes as a competitive amateur boxer and has earned several titles.

My Highlighted Work: