Leah Gordon is associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion at Boston College Connell School of Nursing. Previously, she served as the diversity director for Patient Care Services (PCS) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) where she led diversity and inclusion activities for the department. She oversaw training and education, program design, administration, implementation and evaluation. Leah has also worked as a staff nurse and a chemotherapy infusion nurse in prior roles, where she was either the only Black clinician, or one of a small number of nurses of color providing nursing care.
Leah’s career in academia includes serving as adjunct faculty at various schools of nursing. She has served as an academic advisor and formal mentor to diverse nursing students. In 2019, Leah served in the role of the assistant director of multicultural programming and inclusion at the MGH Institute of Health Professions, where she curated many events that exposed the community to multidimensional levels of cultural experiences and health practices. Leah received her associate’s degree in nursing in 2003 and went on to pursue her bachelor’s and Master of Science degrees in nursing. In 2017, she earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), with a focus on culturally competent and attentive nursing education.
Leah’s personal life created the foundation for what is now her intentional work as a social- and racial-justice health equity advocate. Leah is the daughter of a Black American father and Panamanian mother; her parents fostered and instilled in her equity ideology. Leah became a single mother at the age of 19. Throughout Leah’s life, academic journey and nursing career, she has faced many challenges being a Black woman engaging and working in systems that have challenged her as well as her Afro-Latina heritage. Her personal and professional experiences provide a lens that makes her perspective unique, insightful and important to her roles in nursing and nursing academia, and as a Black woman.
