Cornell P. Wright, MPA

Cornell P. Wright, MPA, is a prominent national leader and subject-matter expert in health equity, minority health, historically marginalized populations, and comm engagement. Wright recently joined the Alliance for a Healthier Generation as their first-ever Chief Health Equity Officer, paving the way to accelerate their mission and impact on whole child health.

For seven years, Wright served as Executive Director of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities, where he led program guidance, policy development, budget management, and statewide leadership to address health disparities.  In addition, he provided leadership to NC Health systems to ensure minority health priorities, policies, and initiatives were systematically addressed on a statewide basis.

Wright has been lauded by the North Carolina Governor and other state leaders, as well as locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally, for his rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic: co-creating and co-leading the Historically Marginalized Populations Workgroup to ensure that the inequities and disparities that we see in specialized communities were addressed through statewide response and recovery efforts.

As an active member in the health community, Wright serves various groups, organizations, and boards including the Patient Centered Outcome Research Institute where he served as chair on the Clinical Effectiveness and Decision Science Advisory Panel, the North Carolina Governor-appointed Andrea Harris Social, Economic, Environmental and Health Equity Task Force where he served as chair to the Patient Engagement Subcommittee, and the Southeastern Health Equity Council, as part of the National Partnership for Action to End Health Disparities, serving as the Co-Chair to the Social Determinants of Health Committee.

Due to his many contributions in the health arena, Wright has received awards and recognitions from such entities as the National Institutes of Health, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, North Carolina Central University, the National Minority Quality Forum, and was recognized as a former Spectacular Magazine Man of the Year in Health. Wright has also presented during TED X UNC, presenting “#ColorPurpleRain” and recently published an invited commentary entitled “In Search of Equity” in the North Carolina Medical Journal.

Always willing to serve, Wright is passionate about his work and assisting others.