Phoenix Zones Initiative

Phoenix Zones Initiative focuses on widespread ethical and structural change. We push forward social, economic, and environmental policy to advocate for the most vulnerable and marginalized people and animals. Our programs center on the intersections between people, animals, and the planet’s wellbeing.

Phoenix Zones Initiative focuses on education and outreach, research and analysis, and advocacy and policy changes.

Phoenix Zones Initiative is led by physicians and a diverse cross-sectoral team.

The organization’s co-founder, president, and volunteer CEO, Dr. Hope Ferdowsian, is a double-board certified internal medicine and preventive medicine physician with expertise in ethics and public health. Over the past two decades, she has worked across six continents. In the US, she has provided healthcare and advocacy for homeless, veteran, immigrant, and other vulnerable populations, while also working to end the exploitation of people and animals in industry and other areas of society. She has led key educational, research, and policy initiatives, collaborated with the Office of the Surgeon General of the United States on global public health issues, and developed resources for nongovernmental organizations, national governments, and intergovernmental forums and organizations such as the United Nations High-Level Political Forum and the World Health Organization. She has authored highly cited publications and spoken at academic institutions and through media outlets across the globe about connections between human, animal, and planetary wellbeing.

Phoenix Zones Initiative’s team consists of professionals with expertise in medicine, public health, the law, education, public relations, nonprofit management, research, and advocacy. The team's expertise includes decades of programmatic and executive leadership experience, as well as experience with strategic campaigns to advance social and environmental policy. Members of the team have also written critically acclaimed books and articles on the connections between people, animals, and the planet.

Phoenix Zones Initiative's strategic plan includes multi-year financial projections.

Between 2019 and 2022, Phoenix Zones Initiative:
1) Published or was featured in more than 40 prominent international articles, editorials, and multi-media platforms.
2) Built bridges between hundreds of organizations in human and veterinary medicine, public health, the sciences, law and policy, and other fields.
3) Hosted more than 40 events that educated and engaged professionals and advocates across 6 continents.
4) Conducted a series of research projects to identify scalable, sustainable, and evidence-based interventions to advance changes in public policy, economic policy, and community-based reforms.
5) Partnered with Project ECHO to fill the need for inter-professional and open access educational resources and technical expertise to advance holistic, inclusive, and evidence-based social and ecological justice interventions that serve the public health needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized communities.
6) Helped draft the NGO Major Group’s 2021 and 2022 Position Papers, which address how governments should implement the SDGs and related targets, and the role civil society can play in achieving the SDGs, particularly in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
7) Provided expertise on preparations for the UNHLPF on Sustainable Development. The HLPF is the UN’s core platform for follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Goals.
8) Addressed United Nations Member States on the nexus between sustainable development and the treatment of people and animals.
9) Partnered with the Harvard FXB Health and Human Rights Consortium for a Health and Human Rights Journal issue section on ecological justice and the right to health.
10) Advanced key legislation to transform medical research.

Learn more about Phoenix Zones Initiative's programs and progress at https://phoenixzonesinitiative.org.