Ndidiamaka Amutah Onukagha

Dr. Ndidiamaka Amutah-Onukagha is the Julia A. Okoro Professor of Black Maternal Health within the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at Tufts University. Ndidiamaka is also the Director and Founder of the Center for Black Maternal Health and Reproductive Justice at Tufts University, whose mission is to foster academic and community-engaged research to conduct maternal health research with a focus on Black maternal health and eliminating inequities. She is currently the Principal Investigator of an NIMHD-funded R01 (1R01MD016026-01) study entitled “Reducing Racial Disparities in SMM Post COVID19: Assessing the integration of maternal safety bundles and community-based doulas to improve outcomes for Black women.” For the past 15 years, Ndidiamaka has worked successfully in communities of color on issues including advancing the understanding, prevention, and reduction of maternal mortality or morbidity among racial and ethnic minority women and socioeconomically disadvantaged women. Her expertise positions her to serve as a co-Investigator for the proposed R01 study, “Prioritizing postpartum health in Massachusetts.” Her extensive experience and training in qualitative methods, community-driven participatory research, health disparities, and maternal and child health make her uniquely qualified to serve as a co-mentor on this project. Ndidiamaka 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. She leads the Maternal Outcomes for Translational Health Equity Research (MOTHER) lab where she trains 35 undergraduates and postdoctoral fellows. Finally, she has published 85 manuscripts and 9 book chapters in maternal and child health and public health in both domestic and international settings. She also provides mentorship on health disparities in the NIH Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) program.