Center's National Team of RJ Trainers & Practitioners
Marva M. Richards, MPH, has spent her career at the intersection of education, health equity, and community empowerment. Now retired from her role as Director of Community Outreach and Service Learning at Albany Medical College, Marva continues to serve as a Restorative and Transformative Justice Practitioner, guiding groups, organizations, and communities toward healing, accountability, and self-determination.
Her decades of work in medical education laid the groundwork for a justice-centered approach to health and healing. At Albany Med, she helped shape generations of future physicians through community engagement and service-learning initiatives that connected students with grassroots organizations across Albany, the Capital Region and beyond. Her signature contribution to the Social Determinants of Albany’s Health (SoDAH) Day—became a cornerstone of the medical curriculum, offering students a lived understanding of structural racism and the non-biological determinants of health. SoDAH was recently recognized by national accreditation bodies as an exemplary model of community-engaged medical education.
Marva’s leadership extended beyond the classroom. As a board officer and task force member for multiple grassroots organizations, she curated panels of diverse community voices to illuminate the realities of systemic harm and resilience. Her work challenged legacy colonial frameworks in state agencies, pharmacy education, and community dialogues, always centering truth-telling and liberation.
In her current practice, Marva draws on her certification from the University of San Diego’s Restorative Justice Leadership and Facilitation program to design and lead community-building circles. These spaces invite deep reflection on the root causes of social and health inequities, fostering collective care among medical faculty, residents, health providers, and community members alike.
Her justice work is not only interpersonal—it is ecological and spiritual. Marva’s approach to Transformative Justice honors the Earth as a living participant in healing. She sees peace-making as a sacred act, rooted in ancestral wisdom and sustained through intergenerational dialogue. Whether refocusing Juneteenth celebrations, mentoring youth through pathway programs, or presenting on structural violence in graduate classrooms, Marva’s voice is consistent in calling for equity, dignity, and planetary stewardship.
As a founding member of Albany Med’s RJ Team and a five-term member of the Admissions Ranking Committee, Marva’s legacy continues to ripple outward. Her journey reflects a profound evolution—from institutional leadership to community-rooted transformation—guided by a lifelong commitment to justice, healing, and the sacred interconnectedness of all life.