97: Black Maternal Health & Founder of MOTHER Lab with Dr. Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha, PhD, MPH, CHES

Interview with Dr. Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha, PhD, MPH, CHES

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Highlights from this episode:

1. Becoming the Julia A. Okoro Professor of Black maternal Health at Tufts
2. Importance of improving black maternal health using equitable approaches
3. Founding the Maternal Outcomes for Translational Health Equity Research Lab (MOTHER Lab)

Episode 97 of Public Health Careers

Dr. Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha is the Julia A. Okoro Professor of Black Maternal Health in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. Her current research interests include maternal health disparities, reproductive health and social justice, infant mortality, and HIV/AIDS in Black women. Dr. Amutah-Onukagha also serves as the inaugural Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for Public Health and Professional Degree Programs.

Ndidiamaka is the Principal Investigator of two multi-year studies on maternal mortality and morbidity, an R01 funded by National Institutes of Health and an interdisciplinary grant on health equity funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Additionally, she is a member of the MA-COVID 19 Maternal Equity Coalition and was honored with the American Public Health Association’s Maternal and Child Health Section’s Young Professional of the Year Award in 2019.

She is in the 2020-2021 class of the top 40 under 40 Minority Leaders in Healthcare, an annual award given out by the National Minority Quality Forum. Ndidiamaka is a life-long member of the American Public Health Association and is currently the co-chair of the Perinatal and Women’s Health committee in the Maternal and Child Health section. Dr. Amutah-Onukagha also serves on the editorial board for the Journal of Women’s Health Issues, and as a board member for the Neighborhood Birth Center in Boston, and the National Women’s Health Network.

Dr. Amutah-Onukagha is the Founder and Director of the Maternal Outcomes for Translational Health Equity Research Lab, (MOTHER) a research lab comprised of 35 students from undergrad to postdoc with a keen interest in reducing maternal health disparities as experienced by Black women.

A well published author, Dr. Amutah-Onukagha has over 45 manuscripts, 5 book chapters, a best-selling book on Amazon, and a textbook on culturally responsive evaluation. She lives in MA with her husband and two sons.