“I see my task as showing how we’re all in this together, even when a commitment to making the world better requires emphasizing the needs of some, particularly those who are more vulnerable than others. This is the work I do, and this is my contribution to changing society for the better.”

Yolonda Wilson

Fellow, National Humanities Center
Durham, NC

Yolonda Yvette Wilson is a 2019-2020 fellow at the National Humanities Center. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her research interests include bioethics, social and political philosophy, race theory and feminist philosophy. Professor Wilson’s work centers on race and gender justice, particularly in health care. Her recent article, “Intersectionality in Clinical Medicine: The Need for a Conceptual Framework” (American Journal of Bioethics) is a consideration on applying intersectionality’s intellectual approach (how race, gender, and other social identities converge in order to create unique forms of oppression) in the clinical environment. 

Wilson is now writing a monograph, Black Death: Racial Justice, Priority-Setting, and Care at the End of Life. She uses end-of-life care to argue that, given historic and continuing racial injustice leading to African Americans being unfairly burdened with ill health, African Americans have a special justice claim on health care. 

Wilson’s public scholarship on issues of bioethics, race and gender has appeared in The Hastings Center’s Bioethics Forum and The Conversation and has been republished in outlets such as The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, Salon.com, and The Philly Voice. Her article for The Conversation, “Why Black Women’s Experiences of #MeToo Are Different,” was re-published internationally and forms the basis for an edited volume on feminist philosophy and #MeToo. Her media appearances include outlets such as Al Jazeera English and The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio.

Learn more here about the Encore Public Voices Fellowship, which supports diverse voices focusing on aging, longevity and the intergenerational opportunity.