Dr. L. Toni Lewis
Dr. L. Toni Lewis is a visionary, innovator, and multihyphenate who has devoted her life to creating space for the mental, physical, and spiritual liberation of those who have been historically marginalized. She earned her Bachelor's Degree and Medical Doctorate from Georgetown University in Washington, DC, and since has pursued a career in social justice through medicine. In 2004, Dr. Lewis became a family medicine resident and a member of the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR/SEIU)--the largest physician's union in the Service Employees International Union. While she trained in Queens, NY, at the St. Vincent's Catholic Medical Center (Brooklyn/Queens division), the hospital experienced a financial crisis. Dr. Lewis spent her medical training treating her patients and advocating for the community with CIR/SEIU and hospital workers. She served the members of CIR/SEIU in many capacities from 2006-2010, including roles from delegate to National President.
After completing her term at CIR/SEIU, Dr. Lewis served as an International Vice President of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and Chair of the 1.1 million-member labor organization SEIU Healthcare from 2010 to 2016. She led in many areas, including ACA implementation and health system transformation, global health, millennial engagement, racial justice, disaster response, and political strategy. Dr. Lewis is a founding member of the Global African Workers Institute (GAWI) and currently co-chairs the Health Committee.
In 2017, Dr. Lewis co-founded the Health Equity Cypher, a collective of global and national experts devoted to health equity and improving the conditions of America's most vulnerable, with a particular emphasis on the Black community through policy, clinical, and leadership strategies. In 2018, she founded Liberation Health Strategies to focus on collaborative community, national, and global holistic health justice strategies. As founder and president, she and her beloved collective work with various individuals and organizations in many areas, including as a featured speaker, providing health/wellness consultation and holistic facilitation, program/policy review and design, and political analysis and strategy. Dr. Lewis has also been a proud member of the historic Win With Black Women Network since 2020.
Dr. Lewis brings her full life experience as a Black Woman, family medicine and geriatric physician, Kemetic yoga instructor, dancer, global labor leader, political strategist, and organizer to her work. Dr. Lewis is originally from Mounds (pop. 900), a rural city in southern Illinois, and currently resides in the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY.