April Aviles (she/her/ella) is a Southern-grown, Latina dedicated to anti-racist public health practice. She currently serves as the Director of Equity and Inclusion at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene where she engages in equity-focused internal reform efforts for one of the largest health departments in the country. Over her 10+ years of experience in public health, April has played a critical role incorporating anti-racist approaches and values within various non-profit organizations and city government agencies. She is a firm believer that just because things “have always been done this way” doesn’t mean they need to stay that way. Recently, April conducted a national survey on racism-related stress and burnout among BIPOC public health professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic. This data will be used to inform her work on creating psychologically safe workplaces for BIPOC professionals and to foster further dialogue around institutional accountability in the public health field. April is a proud first-generation college graduate who earned her B.S. from Cornell University, a MPH in Maternal & Child Health from UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and an EdD in Health Education from Columbia University, Teachers College.