Born and raised in Southern California, LaShyra “Lash” Nolen is a writer, healer, and physician activist. She is a primary care internal resident physician at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital where her work centers on increasing access to medical care for marginalized populations, antiracism in medical education, and theorizing reparatory public policy frameworks.

A leading voice for health equity, her work has been featured in the New England Journal of Medicine and Teen Vogue, among others. Dr. Nolen is the founding executive director of We Got Us, a youth and student-led grassroots community empowerment project with the mission to increase access to education and healing for marginalized communities. She has served as a member of the White House Health Equity Roundtable and is an advising editor for Harvard’s Perspectives in Primary Care medical journal.

Dr. Nolen attended Loyola Marymount University with a B.S. in Health and Human Science. After graduation, she was selected as a Fulbright Scholar and served as an AmeriCorps member. She graduated cum laude from Harvard Medical School where she became the first Black woman elected as student council president. She also obtained her masters in public policy at Harvard Kennedy School of Government where she was a Center for Public Leadership Fellow and Harvard Presidential Public Service Fellow.

Her work has earned her the honor of being named a Forbes “30 Under 30” Leader in Healthcare, a 2024 U.S. Public Health Service Excellence in Public Health awardee, the 2020 National Minority Quality Forum’s youngest “40 under 40 Leader in Minority Health”, among other honors.