Eugenia (Gina) South, MD, MSHP is the Ralph Muller Presidential Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, the Faculty Director for the Penn Medicine Center for Health Justice, and the Associate Vice President for Health Justice for the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
The vision of the Center for Health Justice is to enable health through racial, economic, and environmental justice for Black, Brown, and other people and neighborhoods harmed by structural inequity. The Center has three broad portfolios: research, community action, and health system transformation. The Research and community action group is led by the Urban Health Lab and the health system operation group is led by the Health Justice Transformation.
Dr. South has studied a variety of place-based interventions including vacant lot greening, abandoned house remediation, tree planting, and structural repairs to homes, demonstrating an impact on gun violence prevention, and mental and physical health. Dr. South is passionate about infusing joy, hope, and peace into the lives of mentees, staff, and colleagues. She is guided by her core values of authenticity and caring, and seeks to create a work environment where everyone can thrive.
Her research is funded by the National Institutes of Health, CDCP, and the Commonwealth Fund. Her work has been published in JAMA Network Open, the New England Journal of Medicine, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Journal of Public Health, and has been covered by national and international media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, and NPR.
Dr. South received her MD from the Washington University School of Medicine, and her Master of Science in Health Policy from the University of Pennsylvania, where she was a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and three children, where you can find them exploring parks, the Philly dining scene, and cheering for the New York Mets.
