About Us

The Global Health Justice and Governance Program (GHJG) is a university-wide initiative housed in the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. GHJG addresses complex public health challenges by advancing justice in the areas of gender, environment, and food. The program integrates public health, legal, and scientific scholarship and practice from across Columbia University to promote, protect, and fulfill the right to health. GHJG seeks to affect change at the interface of public health, justice, and governance, which is unique among schools of public health.

We work towards fulfillment of the human right to health by analyzing how standards – whether existing, missing, formal, or informal – promote and/or hinder justice in health outcomes. 

We are committed to the beliefs that:

• Social movements and activism are critical to justice and human rights, improved governance, and accountability. 

• Research should be generated in partnership with affected individuals to influence the governance standards that affect their lives and livelihoods at the intergovernmental or national level. 

• Corporate accountability and transparency are vital to public health.