Hanaa A. Hamdi, Ph.D., is currently the Direct of Health Impact Investment Strategies & Partnerships at NJ Community Capital. In this role, she directs the development and implementation of NJCC’s emerging community health investment and development strategies with regional and national health-focused partners, supporting the organization’s holistic approach to neighborhood revitalization.

Most recently she served as the inaugural national Public Health Director at The Trust for Public Land, where she developed health and racial equity strategies to inform and guide park planning and design, programming, and cultivated health partnership investments for park development in 35 cities across the US.

Dr. Hamdi is former health director for City of Newark, where she simultaneously oversaw the Departments of Public Health and Human Services, Social & Environmental Services, and served as the CEO of the Mary Eliza Mahoney Health Centers, the City’s co-affiliate community-based medical centers.

Prior to her work with the City of Newark, Dr. Hamdi was assistant professor of Family Medicine at Rutgers, New Jersey Medical School, and Senior Research Fellow at the Rutgers School of Nursing.

With more than two decades of public health research and practice, Dr. Hamdi has dedicated her career to advancing health equity for black, brown and low-income communities. She holds a joint PhD in Public Health and Environmental Design from Rutgers University and New Jersey Institute of Technology. Her research and practice examine the impact of social and structural inequities on health. More specifically, her work focuses on the interaction of community planning and design, and impact investment on people and community health.

Hanaa is a native Eritrean. She grew up in baja California and currently lives in New Jersey.