Dr. Barbara Berney is a distinguished scholar in public health, environmental justice, and the U.S. health care system. Dr. Berney is an Emeritus Associate Professor at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School of Public Health and Health Management. She was inspired to produce Power to Heal by hearing eyewitness accounts from physicians, nurses and government staffers involved in the effort to desegregate hospitals and those who struggled to provide health services in rural areas lacking the most basic medical care.



She taught health policy analysis, the US healthcare system, and documentary production for public health practitioners at CUNY. Prior to teaching at CUNY, she did advocacy and community and worker education on environmental and occupational health and HIV/AIDS. She got her MPH in health administration from UCLA. She has a PhD is public policy from Boston University. She earned a BA in political science from Reed College.