Saharra Dixon MA, CHES

Saharra Dixon MA, CHES is an experienced public health professional, qualitative & arts-based researcher, as well as a community-engaged theatre artist and digital storyteller passionate health equity. As a practitioner, she works with diverse communities in using art as a tool for reflection, transformation, & radical healing. As a researcher, she explores the impact of art, arts participation and cultural engagement on health and health research. She is a Public Health PhD student and Dean's Fellow at University of Massachusetts Amherst with a minor in Afro-American Studies. She received her MA in Educational Theatre from New York University and BS in Health Behavior Science from the University of Delaware. She believes that the arts can be used as a powerful tool to facilitate behavioral and social change, as well as further community development and catalyze public engagement and critical dialogue around health, wellness, and healthcare. Her research and practice focuses on mental health, grief and death work, chronic illness, and the benefits of the arts on health for historically-excluded populations and communities while addressing fundamental causes of health inequity. In the past, Saharra has worked extensively in adolescent sexual and reproductive health, and mental health disparities in addressing body-focused repetitive behaviors. She is excited to begin this new journey with CRDS. Saharra is a Certified Health Education Specialist and a trained death and grief doula. She is the co-founder of the 'Napalm Da Bomb Arts Advocacy Award & Scholarship' in honor of her late father, co-directer of the WYSH program at the Hanover Theatre and Conservatory for the Performing Arts, founder of the Imani BFRB Peer Support Group, as well as a 2022 Active Minds Emerging Scholars Fellow.