Faculty Profile

Paul Fleming

Paul J Fleming, PhD, MPH (he/him)

  • Associate Professor, Health Behavior and Health Equity
Dr. Fleming is an Associate Professor and co-founder of the Collaborative for Transformative Public Health. His research and teaching focus on the root causes of racial health inequities and strategies to address them. In this work, he partners with community-based organizations and community organizers to help bring equity and anti-racism principles into practice. He is a sought-after thought leader on how to advance health equity and create communities and organizations that enable all people to thrive. He and his work has been featured in top journals and in media outlets such as NPR and The Detroit Free-Press. His latest book, Imagine Doing Better: Why policies backfire and how prevention thinking can change everything, aims to provide a hopeful roadmap for leaders and do-ers who want to transform their organizations, their communities, and the world.

  • PhD, University of North Carolina, 2015
  • MPH, Emory University, 2011
  • BA, University of Illinois, 2006

Research Interests:
  • Latinx and immigrant health
  • anti-racism in public health
  • community-based participatory research
  • health equity

Research Projects:
Fleming collaborates with the CHASS Center on a project funded by the Kellogg Foundation to improve maternal and child health outcomes for Latinx pregnant people.

Fleming works with Drs. Melissa Creary and Whitney Peoples on two projects to integrate anti-racist principles into public health teaching and practice. One project is creating an online resource for anti-racist teaching and the other works with a local health department to transform policies and practices.

Paul J. Fleming. (2025). Imagine Doing Better: Why Policies Backfire and How Prevention Thinking Can Change Everything. Johns Hopkins University Press.

Paul J. Fleming. (2026). "Collective Imagination Is the First Step Towards Change." Public Health Post.

Creary, M.S., Peoples, W. and Fleming, P.J., 2024. Health Equity Requires Working Toward Antiracist Local Public Health Departments. Public Health Reports.

Fleming, P.J., Cacari-Stone, L., Creary, M.S., Greene-Moton, E., Israel, B.A., Key, K.D., Reyes, A., Wallerstein, N., Schulz, A.J. Anti-racism and Community-Based Participatory Research: Synergies, challenges, and opportunities. American Journal of Public Health.

Fleming, P.J., Lopez, W.D., Mesa, H., Rion, R., Rabinowitz, E., Bryce, R., Doshi, M. The impact of the 2016 US election on immigrant families: perspectives from health and social service workers in Southeast Michigan. BMC Public Health.

Email: pauljf@umich.edu

For media inquiries: sph.media@umich.edu 

Areas of Expertise: Health Equity,  Health Policy,  Public Health Practice,  Racism

Paul Fleming in the News

Illustration of the University of Michigan School of Public Health

On the Heights: March 2026

Illustration of the University of Michigan School of Public Health

On the Heights: February 2026

Illustration of the University of Michigan School of Public Health

On the Heights: November 2025

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