About.
Dr. Brandy N. Kelly Pryor (last name: Kelly Pryor) is a hope-enthusiast, scholar-activist, and community builder. She works to eradicate all inequities by celebrating the stories and the complexity of the human experience. Her professional and scholarly work spans locally, nationally, and internationally and focuses on the intersections of hope, health equity, policy, and social impact. To advance equity, she focuses on the perception and performance of hope in marginalized communities, the importance of space and place in social policy development, and the relationship between gender, race/ethnicity, culture, and age in developing health narratives.
In May 2018, Dr. Kelly Pryor joined The Humana Foundation as the Senior Director of Programs and, in 2020, became the Director of Strategy. In this role, she oversaw the Foundation’s health equity strategy, research, and impact for a portfolio that exceeds $70 million in grants in over 20 communities. Before joining the Foundation, Dr. Kelly Pryor held an inaugural joint appointment as the Director of the Louisville Metro Center for Health Equity (CHE) and as an Assistant Professor with the University Louisville‘s School of Public Health and Information Sciences. As CHE director, she was responsible for spearheading the 2017 Health Equity Report and Louisville Metro Government’s “Racial Equity Here” grant, leading to Louisville’s first Chief Equity Officer. Today, she continues her appointment in the Department of Health Promotion and Behavioral Sciences, where she teaches health policy and advocacy.
Dr. Kelly Pryor is a widely requested speaker, strategy consultant, and writer. She has presented at TEDx addressing cultural competency and health equity and written several chapters and articles for various academic and independent publications. Her consultation work extends internationally with governmental and non-governmental organizations, including consultation for the United Nations and working on community action and environmental and social determinants of health in Kenya, Tanzania, Haiti, Trinidad, Barbados, the UK, and most often, the US.
Serving on multiple community and regional boards, she is excited about being in communion with community. Through all of her learnings and endeavors, one of the communities she is learns from every day is her beautiful children and her loving partner, Lyndon.
