About

Angela Doyinsola Aina, MPH is the Co-Director and Research Lead for the Black Mamas Matter Alliance. She has over 14 years of public health experience, working in different capacities on projects focused on: incorporating health equity strategies into reproductive and maternal health initiatives; strengthening strategic planning and community-based workforce development; and conducting research. Ms. Aina has served as a Public Health Analyst, Health Communications Specialist, and a Public Health Prevention Service Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for over 5 years, working on Zika and Pregnancy, scientific program management, and 2014 Ebola response staffing. She holds a Master of Public Health degree in International and Women’s Health from Morehouse School of Medicine where she conducted a sequential mixed-method analysis of the reproductive health attitudes and behaviors of Nigerian-born immigrant women in the U.S., and a Bachelor of Science degree from Georgia State University in Psychology and African-American Studies. Angela’s expertise and perspectives on Black Maternal Health has been featured in media outlets, such as the Huffington Post, The Atlantic, the Root, and HLN/CNN. She is passionate about and committed to  work that seek to achieve: the self-determination of women of African descent; the elimination of violence against women; the promotion of Black and African women’s rights and  leadership; and womanist solutions to social and economic injustices. In her spare time, Angela enjoys singing, dancing, sewing, and dabbling in all things science fiction and fantasy.

Elizabeth Dawes Gay, MPH is the founder of Sisu Consulting, where she works with organizations and individuals to advance social, racial, and reproductive justice for women of color. Her life’s mission is to create a world where women of color have what they need to achieve their ideal health and well-being. Elizabeth is a recognized thought leader on women of color, reproductive and maternal health, and social justice who has been published in The Nation, Rewire, The Root, EBONY.com, and other outlets. She serves as Co-Director for the Black Mamas Matter Alliance. Elizabeth holds a Master of Public Health in Health Policy from George Washington University and a Bachelor of Arts in Urban Studies from the University of Pennsylvania.

Rose Aka-James is a public health professional living in Atlanta, GA with her husband and son. She has a Bachelors in Psychology from St.John’s University and a Masters in Public Health from New York University. During her graduate degree program, she worked with physicians and public health researchers to streamline healthcare and HIV/AIDS testing and education for expecting mothers at government hospitals in Accra, Ghana. As a black mama herself, the issue of inequity in black maternal health, morbidity, and mortality is one which is not only close to home but an imperative human rights area of focus to improve outcomes for generations to come. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking, spending time with her family and traveling.

Dr. Crear-Perry is the Founder and President of the National Birth Equity Collaborative. Most recently, she addressed the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to urge a human rights framework to improve maternal mortality. Previously, she served as the Executive Director of the Birthing Project, Director of Women’s and Children’s Services at Jefferson Community Healthcare Center and as the Director of Clinical Services for the City of New Orleans Health Department where she was responsible for four facilities that provided health care for the homeless, pediatric, WIC, and gynecologic services within the New Orleans clinical service area. Dr. Crear-Perry continues to work to improve access and availability of affordable health care to New Orleans’ citizens post the Hurricane Katrina disaster of 2005. After receiving her bachelor’s trainings at Princeton University and Xavier University, Dr. Crear-Perry completed her medical degree at Louisiana State University and her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at Tulane University’s School of Medicine. She was also recognized as a Fellow of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology. A proud recipient of the Congressional Black Caucus Healthcare Hero’s award, Dr. Crear-Perry currently serves on the Steering Committee of the Black Mamas Matter Alliance and on the Board of Trustees for Community Catalyst, National Medical Association, and the New Orleans African American Museum. She is married to Dr. Andre Perry and has three children: Jade 25, Carlos 21, and Robeson 7. Her love is her family; health equity is her passion; maternal and child health are her calling.

Dr. Monica R. McLemore is an assistant professor in the Family Health Care Nursing Department, a clinician-scientist at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) and a member of the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health. She maintains clinical practice at Zuckerberg San Francisco General. Dr. Mclemore’s program of research is focused on understanding the factors that influence the health, wellbeing, and livelihood of low-income and women of color. Dr. McLemore joined BMMA in 2017 as a collaborator and has contributed her expertise, knowledge, and leadership to the research working group and Alliance.

Breana Lipscomb is a native of Chattanooga, Tennessee and currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia. She graduated from the University of Alabama at Birmingham where she received her Master of Public Health and Bachelor of Science in Biology and Spanish. She has over 13 years of public health research, advocacy, and program implementation & evaluation experience and has worked in Tennessee, Guatemala, and the State Departments of Health in both Iowa and South Carolina. Breana is an alumna of the Maternal and Child Health Public Health Leadership Institute at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. She has a special interest in addressing maternal health disparities through effective policy and advocacy. She now manages the U.S. Maternal Health & Human Rights Initiative for the Center for Reproductive Rights. In this role, Breana develops advocacy strategies to promote Black maternal health, particularly in the South, mobilizing a broad base of stakeholders—policymakers, reproductive justice community, public health professionals, the medical community, and advocates—to advance state-level policies that further reproductive rights as human rights.

Kwajelyn Jackson currently serves as the Executive Director at Feminist Women’s Health Center (FWHC) in Atlanta, GA, where she manages non-clinical operations, development & communications, volunteer engagement, leadership development, education programs, community outreach, and legislative advocacy work to improve reproductive health, rights and justice in Georgia. She began with FWHC in the summer of 2013, and has since committed to expanding FWHC’s statewide impact and deepening its community partnerships. Kwajelyn also sits on the board of directors for All-Options, Abortion Care Network, Soul Food Cypher, and ProGeorgia, and the steering committees for the Black Mamas Matter Alliance and the Mife Coalition. Prior to joining FWHC, she spent three years as the Program Manager for WonderRoot Community Arts Center and eight years as a Credit Risk Manager with Wachovia Bank’s Community Development Finance Group. She has a BA in economics from Spelman College and an MS in urban policy studies from the Andrew Young School of Public Policy at Georgia State University.

Monica Raye Simpson is the Executive Director of SisterSong, the National Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective. Monica has organized extensively against human rights violations, the prison industrial complex, racism and intolerance, and the systematic physical and emotional violence inflicted upon African American women and the African American LBGT community in the South. She is also a singer, full circle Doula and was recently named a New Civil Rights Leader by Essence Magazine.​​ Monica lives by the Paul Robeson’s quote “If the artist does not create, the world suffers.” She has always used her talents of song and spoken word in the community. She has debuted in theatrical productions such as, “For the Love of Harlem,” “Words the Isms,” “Walk Like A Man, ” “The Vagina Monologues” and “For Colored Girls” and has sung for numerous events across the country which includes singing the national anthem and the national Black anthem for the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. march and rally in Atlanta, GA. She is currently working on her first solo album and she will also launch Artists United for Reproductive Justice as a project of SisterSong to create a platform for artists to collaborate and create replicable tools to further the work of the Reproductive Justice movement.