Christian Amador, MBA, MSc, serves as the Assistant Vice President of Strategic Initiatives for the newly established School of Global Health (SGH) at Meharry Medical College. Tasked with developing and leading the strategy plan for the newly established school, Christian provided oversight in developing and driving the mission, vision, and vision imperatives that SGH has adopted. Administrative duties aside, Christian participates in research initiatives that are geared towards advancing health equity at a societal level, through the political determinants of health framework specifically focused on creating systemic change at the intersection of policy and equity in four main areas: mental and behavioral health, population health, the political determinants of health, and health communications. As contributing co-author of the recently released Projected Cost and Economic Impact of Mental Health Inequities in the United States report, Christian’s embedded the report with an equitable perspective in approaching disparities within historically marginalized communities and providing call to actions that better serve these health outcomes of these communities. 

In his previous cross-sectional role as the Director of Health Equity Initiatives, at the Satcher Health Leadership Institute (SHLI) at Morehouse School of Medicine, Christian provided operational and leadership support to all health equity-focused programs, while also engaging in scholarly research and writing, and serving as project lead for multiple initiatives while providing operation.al support. In particular, Christian led the Uber 10 Million Rides to Move Us Toward Recovery project at SHLI to provide equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for disproportionately impacted communities, and the Office of Minority Health-Deloitte partnered Health Equity Accelerator project. On the research front, Christian served as the lead for the policy-focused research in the Gilead Sciences collaboration with SHLI and Xavier University of Louisiana, which focused on addressing the inequities in HIV care for Black communities in the Southern United States. 

Christian has co-authored several journal publications highlighting the effects of the political determinants of health on population health outcomes, health equity and social justice. These journals include the Executive Leadership Council, the American Society on Aging Generations Journal, and the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Global Public Health. Christian has also co-authored original research The Economic Burden of Mental Health Inequities in the United States report, and is currently co-authoring a co-edited volume by Johns Hopkins University Press.  

Christian has been invited to provide several presentations and lectures on various topics at the intersection of health equity such as 2023 American Psychiatric Association Black Caucus Panel, Lunch and Learn Webinar Series: Advancing Conversations On Climate Change, Environmental Justice and Health Equity, funded by the Environmental Defense Fund; Climate Change and Health Equity Fellowship (CHEF), The Medical Society Consortium on Climate & Health, National Medical Association, and others. 

Previously, Christian held multiple leadership roles as a healthcare administrator at a Level I Trauma Center in South Florida throughout his ten-year tenure where he was able to witness firsthand inequities that exist within the U.S. healthcare system. Christian has also conducted cancer research at the National Institute on Aging at Johns Hopkins Bayview Biomedical Research Center, as well as the toxicological effects of the environment on the human population while at the Center for Environmental & Human Toxicology. Christian holds a Bachelor of Science in Microbiology and Cell Science from the University of Florida, a Master of Science in Biomedical Science from Barry University, and a Master of Business Administration focusing on Complex Health Systems from Nova Southeastern University.