About Us

Various Peoples of Turtle Island understood that health was communal and dependent on multiple systems of Kinship. The Nauhtle speaking Peoples created systems of health through urban infrastructure to plant based healing.

Columbus and other cannibals land on Turtle Island and Abya Yala, bringing disease, inhumane social infrastructure, poorly developed healthcare, engineering, and science as well as systemic violence in the forms of genocide and slavery.

They also spread this cannibalism all over the world, seeding an era of Land and human oppression. Indigenous and Land based cultures forcibly removed from our Lands, breaking Kinship. Creating the root our current health and planetary problems.

W. E. B. Du Bois ran the first sociological study that highlighted the dynamics between the built environment, living conditions, work, racialisation, and how this created a specific lived experience for those who were racialised as Black, which at this time meant having recently experienced slavery or being a direct descendant. This map of the seventh ward illustrates the segregation of residences by race and social class in the neighbourhood surrounding the Pennsylvania Hospital and was included as the frontispiece in The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study by W.E.B. Dubois, published by University of Pennsylvania Press in 1899.

The South Wales Miners Federation provided essential epidemiological evidence linking the mining work environment to lung disease. Creating one of the first pieces of research linking place and health in the UK.

In his book "The Mis-education of a Negro", Dr. Carter Goodwin Woodson linked the poor health outcomes of those racialised as Black on poor living conditions and other socio-economic inequities.

Dr. Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, which brought public attention to the poor health outcomes related to endocrine disruptors found in our water sources. She also linked habitat health with human health.

The Black Panther Party addressed and identified health inequities through breakfast programmes and health clinics. With free medical clinics and patient advocacy, the Black Panthers created a legacy in community health that still exists today. They published newspapers, organised community programs, and provided resources to educate and empower marginalised communities. The Black Panther Party's Breakfast for Children Program made a significant impact on both the communities it served and the broader society. It remains an important symbol of grassroots activism, community empowerment, and the fight against poverty and racial injustice.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. founded the "Poor Peoples Campaign" with the intention to give people what they need to live a life of dignity.

The Birth of Hip-Hop. In its first decade much of the work concentrated on the relationship between place and health. Specifically depicting the experiences of racialisation and mental health. In the words of architect, educator and activist Michael Ford: “hip-hop is the post occupancy analysis of modernism”.

Dr. Robert Bullard, the godfather of environmental justice, creates a map of landfill site locations and their proximity to racialised Black neighbourhoods. It provided a geospatial data approach to structural racism. He coined the term "environmental racism" giving us for the first time lexicon for environmental justice.

In Warren County, North Carolina, the first environmental justice campaign took place, associating various non-communicable diseases to environmental pollutants.

The Zapatista Movement in Chiapas, Mexico, has been recognised for its emphasis on knowledge production, community-led education, cultural autonomy, indigenous rights, land rights, and grassroots empowerment. The Zapatista movement created "caracoles", or “good government councils”, to improve Indigenous community health, education, and expand ecological Knowledges.

Dr. Arline T. Geronimus identified the link between the lived experience of African American women and allostatic load (the wear and tear of sustained stress). This has been a cornerstone in understanding the link between racialisation and disease and moving away from eugenic models.

Following the death of her daughter Ella Roberta in 2013 Rosamund Adoo-Kissi began her journey for justice citing air pollution as the cause of her death. In December 2020 Deputy Coroner Phillip Barlow ruled that Ella died as a direct result of air pollution. Green party peer Jenny Jones is pushing a new clean air law after it won first place in the House of Lords ballot for private members’ bills. Ella’s Law is what people are calling the Clean Air (Human Rights) Bill, introduced to Parliament by Baroness Jenny Jones in May 2022, named after Ella Adoo Kissi Debrah, the first person in England to have air pollution named as a cause of death by a coroner.

This is a monumental step in abolishing air pollution.

A science lab comprising of people from racialised and marginalised backgrounds forms. The term biological inequity was coined and identified by neuroscientist Elahi Hossain (above left). We believe it is the next evolution of the Weathering Hypothesis; allowing us to articulate how supremacy structures influence urban policies that create areas and neighbourhoods that disproportionately put the multi-ethnic working class at high risk for poor health outcomes.

LAB DIRECTOR

Araceli is lead scientist at Centric Lab and a cognitive neuroscientist focused on how people interact with urban environments. Araceli is of Turtle Island descent and holds an MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience from King’s College London.

URBAN STRATEGY

Josh helped set up Centric Lab with Araceli in 2016 and is leads the lab’s work on urban systems, which covers topics such as urban planning, policy & business, and cartography. Josh also leads Centric Lab’s relationships with funders and structural partners. Josh has worked in the built environment industries for over 16 years and is an Arts graduate.

DATA LEAD

Daniel is lead data scientist at Centric Lab. Daniel’s role is developing Centric’s software as well as ensuring all data is correctly gathered, interpreted and communicated. Dan holds a MSc in Neuroimaging from Kings College London.

NEUROSCIENTIST & COMMUNITY LEAD

Charlotte has a first class BSc in Psychology and received a distinction for her MSc in Cognitive Neuroscience. Charlotte has over 6 years of professional experience of working with people with mental health problems, epilepsy and a variety of disabilities, in several settings.

STRATEGY ADVISOR

Guppi Bola is an organiser and educator supporting groups who are committed to meaningful transformative change and who are working towards building an economic democracy rooted in racial justice principles. Guppi is leading Centric Lab’s impact and growth strategy.

PROGRAMME ORGANISER

Hannah has a background in urbanism and city level climate action. She is now exploring new approaches to environmental and health justice, using food and tea as medicine, incorporating the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Hannah has been working with Centric Lab since 2022 and has contributed to a range of work and projects and is now leading this programme.

MEDICAL SECTOR STRATEGIST

Rhiannon (she/her) is a Welsh-Armenian student doctor, researcher and organiser. Her work focuses on on health and climate justice, in particular extractivism, re-imagining health and access to medicines. She loves doing mutual aid work, learning to practise abolition, and trying to work out how to be a healer amidst the violence of colonial capitalism. You can find out more about her work and the collectives she organises with here.

MEDICAL SECTOR STRATEGIST

Amiteshwar Singh (he/him) is an organiser and student doctor working towards transformational change with a vision for health justice that is rooted within decolonial praxis. His work is centred around and catalysed by the intersections of ecological justice, racial justice and a just economic transition. By focusing on reimagining health and restructuring systems of healing, Amit finds great joy in committing himself to a community-led radical, joyful future, where health equity is a reality for all.

CHIEF NAPPER & SNACK CONNOISEUR

Aside from napping 12 hours per day Biggie provides the team with moral support and advice on what pieces of mud are best to eat and the perfect type of stick to chew on. In between naps he joins some video calls to just check in and see everyone’s in a good mood.