D r. Celeste Watkins - Hayes is associate vice president for research and professor of sociology and African American studies at Northwestern University. She is also a f aculty f ellow at the Institute for Policy Research and Cells to Society (C2S): The Center on Social Disparities and Health at Northwestern . Watkins - Hayes is a nationally - recognized scholar and expert on urban poverty; social policy; HIV/AIDS; non - profit and government organizations focusing on low - income fami lies; and race, class, and gender. Her forthcoming book, Remaking a Life: How Women Living with HIV/AIDS Confront Inequality , ( University of California Press , 2019) is an examination of the decades - long transformation of the AIDS epidemic told through the voices of over one hundred female AIDS activists, policy officials, advocates, and women living with HIV/AIDS who have been on the front lines of this fight. The narrative reveals how women confront not only a disease that can destroy their bodies but also the economic, social, and political inequities that threaten their lives before and after diagnosis. Remaking a Life is nevertheless a hopeful book that uncovers important lessons gleaned from women’s leadership in the AIDS movement and offers a p ath for healing injuries of inequality that can be replicated in other arenas . In addition to her academic articles and essays in outlets such as the Annual Review of Sociology, Social Problems, and the DuBois Review , Watkins - Hayes has published pieces in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Chicago Magazine . Her first book, The New Welfare Bureaucrats: Entanglements of Race, Class, and Policy Reform (University of Chicago Press, 2009), was a finalist for the 2009 C. Wright Mills Book Award from the Society for the Study of Social Problems and the 2011 Max Weber Book Award from the American S ociological Association. In 2018, Watkins - Hayes received the E. LeRoy Hall Award for Excellence in Teaching, which is the highest teaching award given by Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. Watkins - Hayes holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Sociolog y from Harvard University and a B.A. from Spelman College, where she graduated summa cum laude. She sits on the board of trustees of Spelman College and the board of directors of the Detroit Institute of Arts. Dr. Watkins - Hayes marr ies data - driven analyses with rich storytelling to illuminate the real - world issues that limit human potential. Her scholarship speaks dir ectly to current policy debates in the areas of healthcare, safety nets, inequality, and the AIDS epidemic as well as discussions about transformative leadership among women . For more information, including speaking and interview bookings, please email celeste@celestewatkinshayes.com or visit www.celestewatkinshayes.com .
Together, we can change the course of the HIV epidemic…one woman at a time.