Ruth Thomas-Squance, PhD, MPH

Ruth Thomas-Squance, PhD, MPH, is Co-Executive Director at the Build Healthy Places Network a national center positioning cross-sector partnerships from community development, public health and healthcare sectors to lead and leverage community-centered investments across the country to address the drivers of health and advance racial equity.

Dr. Thomas-Squance’s passion for contributing to the promotion of health and social equity has taken her from a successful career in biomedical research to management in the non-profit and public sectors. She brings over 15 years of experience working in multi-sector collaborations with diverse partners. She served as founding executive director of a Bay Area non-profit providing training in emotional intelligence skills development to low income and minority populations. Before joining the Network she worked at San Francisco Department of Public Health in Whole Person Care, a Medi-Cal waiver program strategizing cross-sector approaches to improve outcomes for adults experiencing homelessness and high users of urgent emergent healthcare services.

She is currently Vice Chair of the Board of Directors for US Green Building Council. She also serves on the Multisector Partner Advisory Group of the Center for Health Justice at the American Association of Medical Colleges and on the America Public Health Association’s Alliance for Disease Prevention and Response.

Dr. Thomas-Squance earned her doctorate from Imperial College of Science, London, UK and her Masters in Public Health from UC Berkeley. She lives in San Francisco, CA.