Coffee With: Public Health Professor And Nonprofit Founder Heather Butts

Heather Butts, JD, MPH, MA
Location: New York, NY
Job: Lecturer and student adviser, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health; adjunct professor of health law and bioethics at St. John's University School of Law; author; cofounder of H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths, Inc.
Education: B.A. in History and African American and African Studies, Princeton University; J.D., St. John’s University; M.P.H., Harvard University; M.A. in Education; Columbia University
Twitter: @heathermbutts

How did you end up working in public health?

When I was a college senior, I was very conflicted about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. I studied history and African American and African studies. I had a good educational foundation, but I didn’t do a lot of work in figuring out career goals. I told my parents I wanted to “hang out.” They told me I had two options – I could either go to work or go to grad school. It was December of my senior year and, still not knowing what I wanted to do, I scrambled to apply to law school. I got into St. John’s in Queens (where I was born and raised), studied law for three years, and that was that.

Do you ever regret having gone to law school?

Absolutely not. Quite the opposite; I don’t know where I’d be if I hadn’t gone to law school. I would not have pursued higher education. I probably would have gotten a job somewhere and just floated along. I have my amazing parents and wonderful family to thank for that important decision in my life. Getting a law degree was pivotal for growing up, and it’s what allows me to teach now. Law school also forced me to become an analytical reasoner who challenges my beliefs and considers a situation from all angles.

At the same time, I was really interested in global issues that affect people’s health outcomes, psychology, and the health implications of things like hurricanes and bioterrorism. I wanted to be part of figuring out solutions, and while I didn’t know exactly how to do that, I knew it didn’t involve practicing law in the traditional sense. A mentor suggested looking at public health schools, and I applied and was accepted to Harvard.

And now you’re a professor as well.

I teach health law, healthcare reform, and healthcare HR. After getting my master’s in public health, I worked for the government for two years in the Baltimore/D.C. area. Then I became an administrator at Columbia University Medical Center

Then, because, you know, I didn’t have enough higher education, I got my master’s in education at Columbia. That's when all my education and experience finally came together: I knew I wanted to teach public health ethics and law and to disseminate public health to young people in a meaningful way. I quit my job – I would not necessarily recommend that. I gave five weeks notice and, in 2010, I was flipping through my Saint John’s alumni newsletter and saw that my mentor, Professor Turano, had been named associate academic dean. I wrote her a note, we caught up over lunch, and it turned out she was looking for someone to teach a basic health law class. My career in academia evolved from there.

You also cofounded and run a nonprofit – tell us the backstory there.

Anthony Antonucci, Dr. Hugh F. Butts, and I started the nonprofit H.E.A.L.T.H for Youths, Inc. in 2008 to support college readiness and preparation. We work with a few dozen nonprofits in the New York CIty and New Jersey area running programming for underserved youth, many of whom are homeless or have been homeless, in foster care, or incarcerated, ages five to 25 to ensure that their education is supported holistically. We’re essentially a service provider for other nonprofits, and our mission is focused on helping students get to and through college academically, physically, mentally, and career-wise. We run weekly college readiness and community service programs – from mental and physical health programs to life-skills and career training to gardening workshops – and rely on volunteers to support nonprofits doing amazing work.

Your career has definitely been non-linear.

Look, I could have taken a more linear and direct path to get to where I’ve gotten. But I think it’s important to keep in mind that a fixed path is not the only option. There’s just so much out there that you might not know about or have access to. You need to give yourself time to get exposed to the possibilities.

What’s your advice around making career decisions?

There will be times in your life when you’re not where you want to be but you know that the trajectory you’re on is going to get you there. Be patient. Work hard and work smart. Strive for self awareness and self confidence. Believe in yourself and the journey you're on.

What does that look like to you, in practice?

Make connections with people with common interests. Collaborate. Be a bridge between others. Try to shadow somebody. Better yet, if you’re doing a two-year master’s, spend the summer in between trying something out. If you really think you want to do consulting, go do a practicum. Get a general idea of what the culture is like.

Embrace a diversity of ideas. I love reading books by people whose careers I admire — individuals like Dr. Atul Gawande have fascinating stories. His books have been pivotal for me. We need to hear each other’s stories, most of which are very complicated. When people speak at career panels, they often don’t give you the complicated version. But everybody has a middle that led them to where they are.

What’s something people don’t know about you?

I’m a triplet. My parents met working at Harlem Hospital in the ‘60s. My father is a physician with a sub-specialties in psychiatry and psychoanalysis and my mother is a psychiatric social worker. It was “love on the wards,” as my sisters and I call it. My sisters are identical and both doctors – Sydney is the vice chair and chief of the Division of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at University Hospital of Brooklyn/SUNY Downstate. My sister Samantha is an Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

I’m also currently working on my second book. My first one, African American Medicine in Washington, D.C.: Healing the Capital During the Civil War Era, was published by History Press. It highlights the heroic works of doctors and nurses during the Civil War.

What’s important to you in your work?

Making an impact. I’ve seen in my nonprofit work that too often, the expectations of what someone can achieve are limited to not getting in trouble. For some young people, that is the ceiling, not the floor. Having somebody to say to you, “Okay, why don’t you try this?” matters.

I’m not a settler. It frustrates me to see a person settle into what he or she thinks he or she can be and just exist there. We all have dreams for ourselves, but external factors sometimes get in the way of pursuing those dreams. Don’t let that happen! Pursue your dreams relentlessly. Surround yourself with people who will support those dreams and help you reach your ultimate goals.

Images courtesy of Heather Butts.