Assistant Professor
Environmental & Occupational Health and The Ubuntu Center on Racism, Global Movements, and Population Health Equity
abg66@drexel.edu
Degrees
PhD, Population Health Sciences, Concentration Environmental Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public HealthMPH, Epidemiology, Columbia UniversityBA, Sociology, Arcadia University
Bio
Ashley Gripper is the daughter of the late Dawn Kipkin and Paul Gripper III. She is a land steward, herbalist, nurturer, facilitator, and community-rooted scholar who embodies the energy of Sankofa and Ubuntu. Ashley began her formal agriculture training at in Southwest Philadelphia. She is also a member of Soil Generation and a Level 3 Apprentice of Sacred Vibes Spiritual Herbalism Program.
Ashley is an Assistant Professor in Environmental Health at 91制片厂 and faculty at the . There, her teaching and research explore how re-membering and reconnecting to land-based ancestral practices support planetary healing, ecological reciprocity, interdependence and community health.
Ashley holds a B.A. in Sociology from Arcadia University, an M.P.H. in Epidemiology from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Population Health Sciences from Harvard University. As a dynamic speaker carrying messages from Spirit, Ashley has delivered scores of keynotes, presentations, and invited talks across the globe. Her written work and scholarship have resonated with a massive audience, generating over 1 million views and driving conversations in public health, environmental stewardship, and Black food justice.
In 2020, Ashley birthed (LBJ), a care-based initiative cultivating spaces for safety, softness, and connection through herbal medicine, workshops, and skillshares. Rooted in ancestral wisdom and inspired by Octavia Butler’s Parables, her work through LBJ reframes survivalism, preparedness, and self-defense as land-based living for collective self-determination.
Docta Grip’s approach to healing is grounded in a Body-Mind-Spirit-Community framework for understanding the connections between Earth, people, and the cosmos. Her scholarship and practice bridge ancestral wisdom and technologies with modern scientific inquiry to shape how we care for each other and earth’s ecosystems.
Research Interests
- Community-Engaged Research
- Environmental Health
- Urban Agriculture
- Climate justice
- Food Justice
- Spirituality
- Land Access
- Collective Agency & Community Power
Publications
Gripper, AB. (2026) . Land, Food, and Freedom Journal.
Gripper AB, Cowger TL (2025). Measuring Community Power: A scale to measure Collective Self-determination, Embodied Earth Care, and Ubuntu among urban farmers and gardeners. Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 14(2), 529–542. .
Gripper AB (2023). Gripper AB. Practices of Care and Relationship-Building: A Qualitative Analysis of Urban Agriculture’s Impacts on Black People’s Agency and Wellbeing in Philadelphia. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2023; 20(6):4831. .
Barber S, Ferreira A, Gripper AB, Jahn J (2023). Healthy and thriving: advancing anti-racism evidence and solutions to transform the health of Black communities. The Lancet. doi: .
Gripper AB, Nethery R, Cowger TL, White M, Kawachi I, Adamkiewicz G (2022). Community Solutions to Food Apartheid: A Spatial Analysis of Community Food-Growing Spaces and Neighborhood Demographics in Philadelphia. Social Science and Medicine. doi: 115221. 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115221.
Butler B, Gripper AB, Linos N (2022). Built and Social Environments, Environmental Justice, and Maternal Pregnancy Complications. Current Obstetrics and Gynecology Reports.
Szmulewicz A, Wanis K, Gripper A, Angriman F, Hawel J, Elnahas A, Alkhamesi N, Schlachta C (2018). Mental health quality of life after bariatric surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. Clinical Obesity.