Zhanjie Si

Zhanjie Si is currently a lecturer and Ph.D. candidate at CSSW. Prior to coming to CSSW, he worked as a community organizer and activist for people affected by leprosy in China. He has over 14 years of community work experience at the grassroots level and founded Aizhen, a Yunnan-based non-profit organization with a focus on people affected by leprosy. Aizhen supports over 30 community leaders, who had leprosy themselves, from across Yunnan province to solve the pressing issues, impacting over 1,000 people affected by leprosy. Zhanjie also contributed to policy research that led to China’s first national benefit scheme for people with severe disabilities. He received his LLB from Yunnan University, MSW from Columbia, and Mid-Career MPA from Harvard. His endeavors for social justice have been recognized by a number of fellowships, including Ford Foundation International Fellowship, Altlantic Fellow, CMB Equity Initiative Inaugural Fellow, Mason Fellow, and Gingko Fellowship for Emerging NPO Leaders.

His research interests are health equity, structural stigma, medicalized racism, and global social work and civil society leadership.