Leslie M. Kantor, PhD, MPH, is a widely recognized public health leader, researcher, educator, and advocate. Dr. Kantor is the inaugural chair of the Department of Urban-Global Public Health at the Rutgers School of Public Health. She is a mixed-methods researcher with extensive background conducting evaluations of programs in real world settings.
Previous studies Dr. Kantor has conducted in New Jersey (NJ) have included an evaluation of the Familiar Faces program at University Hospital and a community based participatory research study on Black women’s maternal health in Newark which has led to new insights to inform policy and practice. For that project, she recruited and trained a team of women from the community as community researchers who will also collaborate on this project (see bios below). Dr. Kantor is currently part of a team examining the composition of the perinatal workforce in NJ and potential drivers for expanding and diversifying that workforce to improve maternal health outcomes.
Dr. Kantor is a member of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Jegna Council advising their NJ team on health equity, a past Board chair of ETR Associates, a member of the Believe in a Healthy Newark steering committee, and a Trustee of the Orange Orphan Society (OOS). Dr. Kantor is the recipient of the 2023 Rutgers College Class of 1962 Presidential Public Service Award, the 2020 Allan Rosenfield Alumni Award for Excellence from the Mailman School of Public Health, the 2019 recipient of the LLoyd M. Felmly award fromthe NJ Public Health Association for advancing public health through media, the 2018 recipient of the Carl S. Shultz Lifetime Achievement Award from the Sexual and Reproductive Health section of APHA, a 2018 recipient of the Millicent Carey McIntosh Award for Feminism from Barnard and the recipient of APHA’s Jay S. Drotman award for challenging public health practice in a creative and positive manner