Angela Doyinsola Aina, DrPHc, MPH (she/her) is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of BMMA, Inc., a network of Black women-led organizations advancing Black maternal health, rights, and justice through policy, research, culture shift, and leadership development. A catalytic architect of the Black Maternal Health Movement, Angela is an award-recognized public health practitioner with over 19 years of experience in maternal health program development, evaluation, strategic planning, and advocacy. Since BMMA’s inception in 2016, Angela has led the organization in raising more than $2 million annually, creating jobs and fellowships, and expanding a national workforce rooted in birth and reproductive justice.
She, in collaboration with several partners, oversees efforts that convene community-rooted organizations, clinicians, midwives, birth workers, advocates, and researchers to shift maternal health systems through Black feminist praxis, Pan-African and respectful maternity care, and human rights frameworks. Angela is a strategic partner with Baby Dove’s Black Birth Equity Fund, helping to shape corporate social impact investments in maternal health equity initiatives. She is the visionary behind the Black Maternal Health Conference & Training Institute, the Black Maternal Health Incubator Hub, and co-founded the nationally recognized Black Maternal Health Week (BMHW) campaign, which is now celebrated annually across the country and internationally.
Her public health career spans the academic, nonprofit, and government sectors, including over five years at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where she served as a Public Health Analyst, Health Communications Specialist, and Public Health Prevention Service Fellow. While at the CDC, she contributed to key federal responses, including the Zika and pregnancy initiative, scientific program management, and the 2014 Ebola outbreak staffing and deployment. Angela’s research includes a mixed-methods analysis on the reproductive health attitudes of Nigerian-born immigrant women in the U.S., completed during her Master of Public Health studies in International and Women’s Health at Morehouse School of Medicine. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and African-American Studies from Georgia State University and is currently completing her Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree.
She has contributed to a growing number of maternal health-related peer-reviewed publications. She has been interviewed and featured in numerous media outlets, including PopSugar, Nonprofit Quarterly, The Atlantic, The Root, HuffPost, TIME Magazine, and HLN/CNN. In 2020, she was honored as a WebMD Health Hero for her advocacy work. Angela has provided expert testimony and statements before national and international bodies—including the UN High Commissioner Regional Meeting—advocating for the recognition of Black maternal health as a global movement, a professional practice, and a necessary solution to end maternal mortality and morbidity.
She is deeply committed to the self-determination and leadership of women of African descent, the elimination of gender-based violence, and the creation of womanist, community-centered solutions to public health and economic injustice. Outside of work, Angela enjoys exploring Black diasporic cultural expressions through dance, music, art, fashion, and film.
