Kevin Cranston, MDiv
Kevin Cranston, MDiv
Senior Policy Advisor
Most recently serving as Assistant Commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH), Kevin Cranston joins Bulfinch as Senior Policy Advisor after a distinguished 35-year career in public service. In this role, Kevin oversaw more than 350 staff and over $400 million annually through his leadership of the merged Bureau of Infectious Diseases and Laboratory Sciences and its responses to critical public health issues from HIV and H1N1 to EEE, Ebola, COVID-19, and Mpox, among many others.
Throughout his career, Kevin’s work has been shaped by a lifelong dedication to the lives and welfare of young people and has been deeply rooted in the LGBTQ+ community. His work at the Massachusetts Department of Education was instrumental in establishing the Safe Schools for LGBTQ Youth program and in establishing the first-in-the-nation data collection on gay and lesbian youth, pioneering data collection on sexual orientation that are essential to our current understanding of health inequities for LGBTQ communities. Moving to DPH, Kevin assured critical resources were prioritized for youth at risk of HIV/AIDS and supported the creation and launch of the then Governor’s Commission on Gay and Lesbian Youth (now the Massachusetts Commission on LGBTQ Youth) – still the only commission of its kind in the United States.
Kevin’s work has had state, national, and international impact:
In Massachusetts, Kevin laid the foundation for the future of public health by advocating for the renovation of the State Public Health Laboratory, established the federally-funded New England Pathogen Genomics Center of Excellence, and worked with the Massachusetts Organization of State Engineers and Scientists/MOSES to create a career ladder for epidemiology staff within state government. Kevin served on the Massachusetts Special Legislative Commission on LGBT Aging and the Executive Committee of the Harvard Center for AIDS Research.
Nationally, Kevin served as the past Chair of the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors and the National Coalition for LGBT Health and is a former member of the White House’s Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS.
Internationally, Kevin has also served as a technical advisor to national, state, and provincial AIDS control programs in Nigeria, Brazil, and South Africa.
Kevin’s distinguished public service career was recognized in 2023 when he received the Paul Revere Lifetime Achievement Award from the Massachusetts Public Health Alliance.
Say hello at kevin@bulfinchstrategies.com.