This featured guest piece is an excerpt of our April 2026 newsletter.

Dear MCSW Community:

Spring is here and I am delighted to be introducing myself for the first time since my appointment to the Commission late last year! As a newcomer to MCSW, I feel incredibly fortunate to be on this particular learning and leadership journey at this time in my life, gaining more understanding of my role as a Commissioner and how I can maximize my impact while serving this sisterhood that is already rich with knowledge, wisdom, and community power.

My background as a public health practitioner, researcher, and educator influences how I see the world and the actions that I take every day. I bring with me a health equity, justice, and resilience-oriented lens, along with a focus on joy as a necessary, critical component to this work, as multiracial feminist activist and scholar adrienne marie brown teaches us.

Over the past few months, I have not only had the opportunity to get to know more of my inspiring sister Commissioners and the tenacious MCSW leadership, but I have also had the absolute honor of serving on our Scholarship Committee and seeing for myself firsthand the impact of the MCSW Scholarship Program. In celebration of MCSW’s 25^th Anniversary back in 2024, the Commission kicked off an inaugural Scholarship Program that awards five scholarships in the amount of $5,000 each to woman-identifying students across the Commonwealth.

This year, after completing a rigorous application review and evaluation process, the Committee selected five extremely impressive recipients at various stages of their education and lives who show unlimited potential to reach their goals, from a pool of incredibly promising applicants. The MCSW Scholarships awarded this spring will be applied to the 2026–2027 academic year, and through the generous investment of donors, scholarship awards will continue to be made available to five awardees every cycle on an annual basis.

As MCSW makes announcements on this year’s scholarship winners at the upcoming Girls Empowerment Leadership Initiative (GELI) Summit on April 23^rd, I encourage you to get involved (find your Regional Commission here), watch this space so you can learn more, and share in their much-deserved success.

On that note, I wish to thank you for your investment in growing our MCSW community – without your commitment and continued belief in the mission, we would not be able to provide the opportunities for women, girls, and families, including the MCSW Scholarships, that strengthen our Commonwealth for generations to come.

I am so excited for what is next and look forward to working with you!

With gratitude and solidarity,
Emily J. Wilson, PhD, MPH, MS, CHES
MCSW State Commissioner

Dr. Emily Wilson (she/her) is an experienced public health leader, educator, and researcher deeply committed to improving health and learning equity. Currently, Dr. Wilson serves as Assistant Commissioner of the Health and Human Services Department in Plymouth, where she manages a wide range of community-based services, operations, and resources for a large municipal department. In this role, she co-founded the Plymouth Addiction Response and Improvement Strategies Effort (ARISE), a coordinated, community-driven initiative that aims to increase engagement, reduce stigma, and expand local services for individuals and families struggling with substance use. Plymouth ARISE has been recognized as a model for municipal opioid settlement funding distribution. Dr. Wilson also serves as an elected member of the Greater Plymouth Community Health Network Alliance Steering Committee.

Dr. Wilson began her career as a public health practitioner in college health/higher education, where she worked as a certified health education specialist (CHES) building campus-based initiatives that addressed stigma and engaged underserved populations. She has led complex, grant-funded community health projects and worked as a consultant in nonprofit, university, and K-12 school-based settings. Dr. Wilson’s research focuses on the intersection of trauma, resilience, and education, as well as the social determinants of health and learning. After earning an MPH from West Chester University, she completed a predoctoral fellowship at the Stoneleigh Foundation, where she studied the applications of the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) framework in child and family serving systems across the U.S.

From there, Dr. Wilson went on to study trauma-informed and resilience-based strategies that Massachusetts teachers use to support students including English language learners and GED/HiSET students for her dissertation at Simmons University, where she completed her PhD in Health Professions Education. Dr. Wilson taught public health at Simmons and at Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences. Her work has been published in several books and journals. Dr. Wilson also holds an MS in Urban Affairs from Hunter College and a professional certificate in the Treatment of Trauma from the Boston University School of Social Work, as well as Public Management and Developmental Disability Studies certificates from the Rutgers School of Social Work. Dr. Wilson brings her public health and health/learning equity lens to the Massachusetts Commission on the Status of Women, and enjoys singing, seeing live music, cooking, baking, and going for hikes with her husband and their rescue dogs.