Dr. Oni Blackstock, MD, MHS

Dr. Oni Blackstock, MD, MHS, is recognized as a thought leader and influencer in the areas of HIV and health equity. She is the founder and executive director of Health Justice, a consultancy that supports healthcare and public health organizations in centering equity in the workplace and reducing health inequities in the communities they serve. Dr. Blackstock is a primary care and HIV physician and researcher who recently served as the assistant commissioner at the New York City Health Department where she led the city’s response to ending the HIV epidemic. 

Maranda C. Ward, Ed.D, MPH

Maranda C. Ward, Ed.D, MPH, is an assistant professor and director of equity in the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership in the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Dr. Ward is an expert in advancing anti-racism efforts within health professions education and in designing curricula to enable students and faculty to competently promote health and racial equity in practice. Her research focuses on diversity, equity, inclusion, justice and antiracism educational interventions as well as stakeholder-engaged community-focused studies on HIV, Black women's health, and youth identity. As a member of the DC Center for AIDS Research (DC CFAR), she is the principal investigator on Two in One: HIV and COVID Screening & Testing Model that allows her to lead a national research-based educational intervention for primary care practitioners to routinize screenings for HIV, PrEP/PEP, and the COVID vaccine. This research will lead to a set of policy recommendations for overall practice-based changes for all patients and culturally responsive messaging for racial, ethnic, sexual and gender minoritized patients. She is also skilled in the application of participatory action research methods.

We would like to acknowledge the significant contributions of Nikhil Kalita, BS and Sadhana Matheswaran for their roles in researching, compiling, and editing content for this 9-part course series.