Derrick’s Journey

Derrick Young Jr. is a champion for social justice and equity. He is the Co-founder and Executive Director of Leadership Brainery, a non-profit organization addressing unequal access to advanced education and workforce leadership opportunities for minoritized communities.

Derrick's commitment to fostering equity stems back earlier than he remembers. It was heightened in college when he received acceptance into the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Undergraduate Public Health Scholars Program. He learned that we must search fully upstream to find what is causing our most vast societal inequities. He identified systemic restrictions to accessing adequate information, education, and opportunities as the main factors.

After studying at Tufts University School of Medicine's Public Health Program, Derrick led an HIV prevention awareness campaign and testing initiative at Codman Square Health Center, decreasing stigma and increasing testing for Dorchester's high-risk populations. He later became the Policy and Strategy Specialist for Intergovernmental Relations at the Boston Public Health Commission. At BPHC, he represented the City of Boston on local and statewide public health coalitions, drafted priority legislation, and prepared the annual operating budget for approval by the City Council. When the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020, he was assigned to the Boston Medical Intelligence Center as the Information Box Supervisor, providing colleagues, elected officials, first-responders, and local residents with rapidly evolving coronavirus updates and resources.

Derrick is the former Membership Chair of Harvard University Center for AIDS Research Community Advisory Board and former Tufts Public Health Alumni Association President. He currently holds community leadership roles as a Tufts Alumni Council member and United Negro College Fund New England Leadership Council member.

Derrick earned his Masters of Public Health degree with a Health Services Management and Policy concentration from Tufts University School of Medicine and his BA in Psychology from Grambling State University. He also earned his Certificate in Disruptive Strategy from Harvard Business School.