Petrina Martin Cherry is the Vice President of Community Engagement and External Affairs at Boston Medical Center Health System, where she leads community program development, particularly around the hospital’s efforts to increase health care equity, economic mobility, workforce development in the life sciences, diversity and inclusion and address social determinants of health. She has done significant advocacy work creating community-based programs to bring awareness to Sickle Cell Disease, BMC’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, promote mental health and wellness in communities, to reduce recidivism and influence successful reentry and to build equity instead of charity in previously red-lined communities. 

Petrina’s work has successfully elevated the health equity work of BMC with our State and local government officials, corporate partners, and community leaders.  She was appointed by Mayor Walsh in 2020 to the City of Boston’s COVID-19 Health Inequities Task Force and was recently appointed to Governor Maura Healey’s Council on Black Empowerment.  Petrina serves as the Co-Chair of the Women’s Forum for the National Association of Healthcare Executives (NAHSE) and sits on the board of trustees for The Urban League of Eastern MA (Emeritus), The Boys and Girls Club of Boston, the Boston Arts Academy (BAA), ArtsEmerson at Emerson College, and the Advisory Board of the American Hospital Association. She has earned a B.A. from the University of South Carolina and an M.B.A. from Georgia State, J. Mack Robinson School of Business.