Diana Hernández, PhD

Dr. Diana Hernández is a tenured Associate Professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Founding Principal Investigator of the Energy Equity, Housing and Health Program, and co-Director of the Energy Opportunity Lab at the Center on Global Energy Policy. For the 2025–2026 academic year, she is serving as a Climate Justice Fellow at Harvard University, jointly appointed by the Radcliffe and Salata Institutes.

A pioneering sociologist and leading authority on energy insecurity—a concept she defined and operationalized—Dr. Hernández has transformed the field through groundbreaking mixed-methods research. Her scholarship, rooted in community engagement and policy innovation, exposes systemic barriers to housing and energy access and affordability for disadvantaged populations and pilots interventions with national relevance. She is lead author of Powerless: The People’s Struggle for Energy (Russell Sage, April 2025), the first major book on energy insecurity in the United States.

Dr. Hernández has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and policy briefs in top-tier journals and secured ~$10 million in competitive funding from federal agencies and philanthropies. A sought-after thought leader, she has delivered more than 300 invited lectures and presentations worldwide, frequently advises policymakers, and is regularly featured in national media. She has also served in key leadership roles, including as a mayoral appointee to New York City’s Environmental Justice Advisory Board (2018-2024).

At Columbia, Professor Hernández teaches courses on energy equity and the built environment, qualitative research design, and leadership. She has received numerous honors, including recognition as a Public Health Catalyst, Distinguished Alumna of Hunter College, and induction into Columbia’s Academy of Community and Public Service.

Born and raised in the South Bronx, Dr. Hernández has extended her expertise beyond academia by leading social impact real estate projects that integrate clean energy and deep energy-efficiency retrofits. A proud product of NYC public schools and Section 8 housing, she earned her BA from Hunter College and PhD in Sociology from Cornell University.