Phoenix Zones Initiative

Phoenix Zones Initiative focuses on widespread ethical and structural change. We push forward legal, economic, and public policy to advocate for the most vulnerable and marginalized people and animals. Our programs center on the intersections between humans, 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 fora 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, and Phoenix Zones Initiative has received significant financial commitments for its first five years of operation.

Between mid-2019 and mid-2021, Phoenix Zones Initiative:
1) Featured in 30 prominent international articles, editorials, webinars, videos, and art exhibits, reaching 8 million people.
2) Built bridges between individuals and organizations in human and veterinary medicine, public health, the sciences, law and policy, ethics, the arts, media, and business.
3) Hosted 31 events that educated and engaged professionals and advocates across 6 continents, reaching more than 3,000 professionals and advocates.
4) Conducted more than 40 research projects to identify scalable, sustainable, and evidence-based interventions that could protect vulnerable populations through 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 environmental justice interventions that serve the public health needs of the most vulnerable and marginalized communities.
6) Helped draft the NGO Major Group’s 2021 Position Paper, which addresses 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) Partnered with the Harvard FXB Health and Human Rights Consortium for the forthcoming December 2021 Health and Human Rights Journal issue section on ecological justice and the right to health.

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