Ndidiamaka N. Amutah-Onukagha received her PhD in Public Health with a focus on Maternal and Child Health at the University of Maryland, College Park School of Public Health in 2010. She received her Master’s in Public Health from The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services in Maternal and Child Health in 2005. Dr. Amutah-Onukagha also received a BS in Public Health and BA in Africana Studies from Rutgers, The State University of NJ. Ndidiamaka has a longstanding commitment to public health that spans over 15 years of experience. Her current research interests include maternal mortality and morbidity, health disparities, reproductive health, infant mortality and HIV/AIDS in women of color. Ndidiamaka is a 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. Additionally, Dr. Amutah-Onukagha completed the Kellogg Health Scholars Program (KHSP) Postdoctoral fellowship in Baltimore, MD. During her time postdoctoral fellowship her research focused on family planning and reproductive health in women receiving home visitation services.

Dr. Amutah-Onukagha is a former President of The Society of African American Public Health Issues (SAAPHI) and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Womens Health Network. Additionally, she is an Associate Professor in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine.

Since 2018, Dr. Amutah-Onukagha has planned and led a national conference on Black Maternal Health Inequities. The audience of almost 700 attendees has spanned healthcare professionals, community health workers, doulas, students, and community activists. Now heading into its 5th year, the Black Maternal Health Conference has grown from a ½ day symposium to a full day conference with speakers and attendees registering from across the country. Ndidiamaka provides strategic vision and leadership for the conference and related community focused activities to ensure that voices of women of color are centered and amplified to address the urgent crisis of maternal mortality and morbidity in the Boston area and around the country.

Dr. Amutah-Onukagha is the inaugural Julia A Okoro Professor of Black Maternal Health at Tufts University School of Medicine and manages a research lab, MOTHER Lab, which hosts 33 future clinicians and public health professionals with a keen interest in eliminating maternal health disparities. In her current position as the Assistant Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, Dr. Amutah-Onukagha is the chair of the Diversity, Equity, and Anti-Racism Council (DEAR), a multidisciplinary council comprised of staff, students, and faculty in Medicine, Public Health, Physician Assistant, Physical Therapy, and Biomedical sciences programs. In this role, she provides strategic leadership and governance on issues of anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion. She also provides oversight to the three standing committees on Faculty/Staff, Student Climate, and DEI events.

In addition, Dr. Amutah-Onukagha is the Principal Investigator of an R01 funded by NIH aimed at examining maternal safety bundles and the role of doulas maternal health outcomes in Black women.  Ndidiamaka also serves as the Principal Investigator of an RWJF funded community based participatory study on Black maternal health and the role of partners, providers, and families.