40 Under 40 · FOR THE CULTURE

Keri Gray

Executive Director | NAMED Advocates | Longview, TX

Keri Gray is a disability advocate and movement builder working at the intersection of racial justice and disability justice.

Through NAMED Advocates, she is reshaping how systems understand ableism and building solidarity across movements.

Her path into healthcare is rooted in lived experience.

"As a Black disabled woman and a cancer survivor..."

She has experienced both compassionate care and systemic gaps, and that contrast drives her work.

For Gray, this recognition is about visibility.

It affirms that the lived experiences of disabled people of color belong in the spaces where health equity is defined and funded.

She is leading Rethinking Language in Science, working to reshape how healthcare and research communicate about marginalized communities.

"Practice faithful courage."

Gray’s work challenges healthcare to rethink not just systems, but language, power, and who gets to define both.

Instagram: @kerigray90

LinkedIn: Keri Gray