Mindy Thompson Fullilove is a professor of urban policy and health at The New School. She was previously a professor of clinical psychiatry and public health at Columbia University. She is a board-certified psychiatrist, having received her training at New York Hospital-Westchester Division (1978-1981) and Montefiore Hospital (1981-1982).

She began her research career in 1986 examining the U.S. AIDS epidemic and its relationship to place of residence. She has studied epidemics of poor communities and examines the mental health effects of such environmental processes as violence, rebuilding, segregation, urban renewal, and mismanaged toxins. Much of her research focuses on the relationship between the collapse of communities and the resulting decline in health.

From her research she has published over 100 articles and as well as six books focusing on the health problems caused by inequality, and what we can do to advocate for change. The most recent is Urban Alchemy: Restoring Joy in America’s Sorted-Out Cities. She has received many awards for her work including two honorary doctorates (Chatham College, 1999, and Bank Street College of Education, 2002), election as an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects, and the Jeanne Spurlock Social Justice Award.