Taking Action on Social Determinants of Health – Armen Henderson, MD

Episode 47
Guest: Armen Henderson, MD
Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Dr. Armen Henderson, Director of Health Programs at Dream Defenders and Founder of Dade County Street Response, shares his work bringing medical care directly to poor and working-class communities in Miami. He discusses how social determinants of health are deeply rooted in racism, classism, and systemic inequity—highlighting examples such as climate injustice, lack of housing, and barriers to healthcare access. Armen reflects on how the murder of Trayvon Martin led him to organize for racial justice through an abolitionist, anti-capitalist lens within medicine. This conversation underscores the need to reimagine public health as a tool for liberation and community care.

In this episode:

• Bringing medicine directly to poor and working-class communities outside the hospital setting
• How social determinants of health are rooted in racism, classism, and systemic inequity
• Climate injustice, hurricanes, and how racism and classism determine who bears the greatest harm
• Serving unhoused communities and the racial profiling Dr. Henderson experienced during COVID
• How the murder of Trayvon Martin led him to an abolitionist, anti-capitalist approach to medicine

www.dreamdefenders.org
Instagram dr.doitall305
Facebook armen.henderson

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Music credit
"District Four" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License
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